The European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) has awarded Dr Brendon Scicluna of the Department of Applied Biomedical Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Malta, the 2022 Established Investigator Award in appreciation and recognition of continuing contributions to intensive care medicine. The Established Investigator Award supports the research activities of a senior physician/scientist active in clinical or basic research. It supports a research project conducted in Europe.
The specific intent is to provide support for investigators who have already established their independent research programme in the field of intensive care and emergency medicine, and who can demonstrate a commitment to facilitate research training of young colleagues. The research proposal may rely on approaches ranging from basic cellular responses to outcome research, and may include clinical applications as well as translational science.
The prestigious award provides Dr Scicluna and his team with funds to follow up on his highly cited pioneering discoveries related to blood genomic #endotypes in critically-ill patients due to (1). Before joining the University of Malta in January, 2022, as Assistant Professor in the department of Applied Biomedical Science, Dr Scicluna held a tenured position at the respected Amsterdam University Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, as well as faculty position in the Center for Experimental Molecular Medicine, Amsterdam Institute of Infection and Immunity. Dr Scicluna鈥檚 research focuses on immunobiology and pathophysiology of sepsis, critical illness due to non-infectious aetiologies, immunity, and microbiology.
Dr Scicluna鈥檚 work is published in several prestigious international journals that include Nature, Nature Immunology, Nature Reviews Immunology, Journal of the American Medical Association, Lancet Respiratory Medicine, Cell Metabolism, Genome Medicine and the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications with a H-index of 34. His recent work in identifying sepsis molecular endotypes with clinical implications, published in Lancet Respiratory Medicine (1), has been highlighted as a key bridge to establishing precision and personalised medicine in the context of infectious diseases and intensive care medicine. He is an active member of international consortia, including a Personalised Immunotherapy for Sepsis consortium (IMMUNOSEP), and the Combatting Antimicrobial Resistance in Europe (COMBACTE) consortium.
"The awarded funds will be utilised to address a major question in the field, that is whether sepsis molecular endotypes represent dominant immunopathologies or epiphenomena. Sepsis is a complex syndrome that is initiated by an abnormal host response to infection leading to lethal organ dysfunction. The global incidence was estimated at 48.9 million cases in 2017, with 11 million attributable deaths representing ~20% of all deaths worldwide (2).
These alarming estimates prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to pass a resolution in 2017 recognising sepsis as a global health priority (3). Together with Mater Dei's Department of Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care, and Pain Medicine, chaired by Dr. Carmel Abela, we will investigate the blood molecular endotype dynamics at the primary anatomical site of infection, termed the MENDSEP project. We are excited to start this pioneering project and to learn new things as we progress. We envisage that this work will be a benchmark in fine-tuning critical care by providing novel tools to assist in identifying patients who would benefit, or be harmed, by specific treatments that include immune modulating therapies." - Dr Brendon Scicluna.
