ANZICS Clinical Trials Group meeting February 2025

Two CCRG Research Fellows presented at this year’s ANZICS Clinical Trials Group (CTG) meeting in February, including one making their debut on the international speaking circuit.

Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr Nchafatso Obonyo delivered an outstanding presentation on the role of microcirculation in sepsis, while Dr Francesco Baccoli, Visiting Research Fellow from Italy, delivered his first international presentation showcasing new investigations into Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) pathophysiology.

“It was great to discuss the live bacteria model of septic shock that we have developed and the potential opportunities to novel resuscitation and treatment strategies with colleagues Professor Rinaldo Bellomo and Professor Yugeesh Lankadeva from the Florey Institute,” said Dr Obonyo, pictured below.

Dr Baccoli explains “ARDS is a serious lung condition affecting 3 million patients each year. Despite more than 50 years of research, mortality is still one of the highest seen in Australian ICUs. We are working to overcome knowledge gaps in our understanding of how ARDS develops.

“The study that I presented at ANZICs is part of a larger project where we aim to investigate whether inflammatory biofluid produced early by the injured lungs can disseminate lung injury. This is a novel pathogenetic mechanism that we are the first to propose, and we call it "Biofluid-Induced Lung Injury" (BILI),” said Dr Baccoli, pictured below.

ANZICS CTG was formed in 1994 by a group of Intensivists keen to establish a network of investigators capable of designing and conducting multi-centre, investigator-initiated research in Australasian ICUs. The ANZICS CTG is a highly collegial, multi-disciplinary community of Intensive Care Clinicians & Researchers​ who have to date attracted over $130m (AUD) in total research funding. The ANZICS CTG currently has 41 active studies.