Injury and Illness

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Injury and Illness

Studies on burns, physical trauma, and sepsis—the body's overwhelming immune response to severe injury or infection—focus on questions like:

What changes occur immediately and over time when a person is critically ill or injured?
Why does the immune system go into overdrive?
How can we improve diagnosis and treatment strategies?

Follow the links below to learn more about issues related to injury and illness, including recent developments, and read profiles of researchers working in these areas.

Fact Sheets

Burns
Heat, chemicals, electricity, sunlight, or nuclear radiation can cause tissue-damaging burns. Get answers to questions about burns and related treatments and research.
Physical Trauma
Physical trauma is a serious injury to the body. Learn more about basic research related to trauma.
Sepsis
An overwhelming immune response to infection can cause sepsis. Get more information about sepsis and what we're learning about it. En español.

All fact sheets

Biomedical Beat Blog

Sepsis: Using Big Data to Cut a Killer Down to Size
Sepsis causes nearly 270,000 deaths in the United States each year. Find out how big data approaches are helping clinicians catch it sooner, treat it better, and help survivors cope with long-term effects.
How Three Physician Scientists Are Taking Strides to Improve Our Health
Learn about women trauma surgeon scientists Nicole Gibran, Rebecca Minter, and Carrie Sims, who received early-career NIGMS support and have gone on to make significant contributions to their scientific fields and communities.
Festive Flu Virus Structure
A playful image from Rommie Amaro and colleagues uses a festive approach to the serious science of understanding and finding ways to combat the flu virus.
Sepsis: The Body’s Deadly Response to Infection
Learn how NIGMS is trying to reduce the impact of sepsis, a deadly medical condition that is common, expensive, difficult to diagnose, and has no single cure.

Profiles: Meet a Scientist

Game Changer
Pediatric orthopedic surgeon examines the causes of elbow injuries in young baseball pitchers.
For Janice: Legacy of a Short Life
Neurosurgeon and immunologist Kevin Tracey studies why our immune systems cause illness.
Dogging Sepsis
Veterinarian Cynthia Otto studies sepsis, a dramatic, full-body reaction to an injury or illness.