Critical Care

Entry requirements

Students will normally have a minimum of a 2:1 class honours degree in a relevant biological science subject, or an equivalent medical, veterinary or dental qualification. Applicants are selected on the basis of their curriculum vitae, qualifications and referees’ reports, together with their perceived ability to complete the programme successfully and on the value of the training offered to their subsequent career plans.

Months of entry

Anytime

Course content

Our focus on Critical Care encompasses conditions such as Sepsis and Trauma. These are the leading causes of death globally and remain unmet health challenges for the NHS, especially in the emergency room and intensive care settings. Our approach at IGH is rooted in clinical investigation and we have a track record of taking patient observations into discovery science that translates back into new diagnostic and therapeutic developments.

Subject Overview

Critical care research involves an understanding of the complex mechanisms that follow on from acute cell damage and injury. This may be caused by infection, trauma or ischaemia and infarction from thromboses. The dynamics involve an interplay between the inciting event and the host response, which is initially adaptive in order to protect the host. However, when this response becomes excessive and unregulated, it can lead to deleterious effects with potentially lethal consequences. These events link the processes of coagulation, inflammation and innate immunity to varying degrees and at varying time points.

At IGH, this work plays an emphasis on identifying the molecular events that mark the transitional phases during the course of critical illness, especially in identifying the signatures of early maladaptive events. This would then translate into the development of better diagnostic tools that help the clinician recognise appropriate time points for intervention. Coupled to this is the need to also drive therapeutic innovations for patients with critical illnesses. The focus is therefore also in developing novel biomarker-targeted therapeutics.

Available strands for critical care research include:

• Haemostatic and Vascular endothelial dysfunction
• Toxicity of nuclear and cellular breakdown products, including histones and neutrophil extracellular traps
• Translational clinical studies, including development of new diagnostics and therapeutics