Featured Scientific Sessions:

Epigenetics and Stress
New Technology and Applications
Phenomics: Role of Information Systems

Advances in computational biology and high-throughput technologies have generated considerable interest in understanding complex biological systems. The application of these approaches to critical illness and injury offers the potential to define maladaptive programs of gene expression induced by infection, trauma, or other inflammatory triggers, as well as to detect biomarkers and genetic polymorphisms linked to these responses. However, the many disparate causes of critical illness and injury complicate studies aiming to improve outcomes for critically ill patients. Conducting research in the intensive care unit is difficult due to special ethical requirements related to patient consent as well as the complexity of conducting highly coordinated team science.

As the tools of systems biology mature, physicians will have a new set of resources to complement or even replace current therapeutic modalities. Functional genomic strategies offer the opportunity to navigate the physiome: addressing critical illness and injury at multiple levels from the organ to the genome. Microarrays, highly parallel single nucleotide polymorphism analyses, proteomic chips, and point-of-care monitoring devices are examples of technology that promise to revolutionize critical care medicine by developing a more global understanding of complex biologic processes and systems, integrating pathophysiology, cell biology, and prewired genetic programs. These efforts should enable a more accurate reflection of the interactive, emergent properties of adaptive and maladaptive host responses.