In cooperation with:
Prof. Dr. Catharina Schütz, Paediatric Immunology, Medical Faculty „Carl Gustav Carus“, Technic University Dresden (Germany)
Prof. Dr. Markku Varjosalo, Institute of Biotechnology & HiLFE Helsinki Institute of Life Science (Finnland)
Prof. Dr. Antonio del Sol, Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (Luxemburg)
Prof. Dr. Ozgur Kasapçopur, Department of Pediatric Rhematology, Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa (Turkey)

 

Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS) is a life-threatening condition characterized by severe inflammation and widespread tissue damage in response to infection, autoinflammation, or unspecified causes. In childhood and adolescence, sepsis, that is SIRS with evidence of a generalized bacterial infection, is the most common cause of death worldwide. The individual prognosis depends on identifying the underlying pathology at an early stage and distinguishing between infectious and non-infectious causes. Such diagnostic tools are currently lacking.

The aim of the study is therefore to identify diagnostic patterns in order to decipher the underlying triggers in a patient-specific manner and thus enable new diagnostic options and patient-specific therapies. TIPS is being carried out as a multicenter study in four European countries. Patient-specific data and biomaterials will be collected in order to create personalized profiles. A novel machine learning algorithm for integrative analysis will be used to create a predictive model.

Generating genetic data from paediatric patients raises ethical and legal concerns. The aim of the ethical and legal part of the project is therefore to thoroughly take under consideration of vulnerable subjects of research in general, appraise risk-benefit for study participants, consider the responsible use of personal information and data, patient information and informed consent, and deal with challenges posed by different national and regional regulatory frameworks.

 

Lead of the component project: Prof. Dr. Florian Steger

Research team of the component project: Prof. (MU-Pleven) Dr. Silviya Alexandrova-Yankulovska, Thiemicke, Paul, M.mel.

Duration: 2021–2024

Sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the framework of the sponsor consortium ERA PerMed