Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) afflicts up to 25% of mechanically ventilated patients admitted to an intensive care unit, carries a mortality that exceeds 30%, and has no approved pharmacologic therapy. Patient-oriented research (POR) to identify ARDS molecular subphenotypes that may respond to precision therapy is thus critically important. Dr. Meyer?s research career has been devoted to identifying genetic and molecular risk factors that account for individual variation in ARDS risk, and harnessing this information to uncover novel treatment paradigms for ARDS. The goal of this application is to train a new generation of scientists in translational POR that advances precision medicine for ARDS, by enhancing Dr. Meyer?s mentorship capabilities and fostering new opportunities for research that integrates clinical informatics and molecular informatics. Applying expanded genomic, bioinformatic, and epidemiologic tools, this application will test whether a circulating immune profile associates with plasma protein-defined subphenotypes of sepsis- associated ARDS, and whether integrating genetic, gene expression, cytometric, plasma protein, and clinical data can identify reproducible patterns of host response during ARDS. The completion of these aims will expand Dr. Meyer?s research program as a POR training resource in ARDS and will enhance her effectiveness as a mentor with specific training activities for Dr. Meyer and her trainees.
This proposal is to support Dr. Nuala Meyer to mentor physician-scientists in Patient Oriented Research focused on identifying individual risk factors for ARDS due to genomic, molecular, and/or clinical factors that may be amenable to targeting with precision therapy. Dr. Meyer will use the support and time provided by this award to expand her program to include biomedical informatics and peripheral blood cytometric training opportunities and to enhance her talent development of trainees.
