Roslin Institute research team
As a charity, Sepsis Research FEAT is currently funding the GenOMICC study, led by Dr. Kenneth Baillie, at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh. It is the largest study of its kind anywhere in the world.
This pioneering research study focuses on the role genes play in predicting how likely people are to die from the infection. The team recently identified a number of genes that, when faulty, can lead to the type of excessive inflammatory response to infection which is characteristic of sepsis. This could help pinpoint those who are most vulnerable to sepsis. It is the aim that the findings from this study will enable important progress in critical care medicine across the world.
We sat down with GenOMICC Study Coordinator Fiona Griffiths at Edinburgh University’s Roslin Institute to get her thoughts on what it’s like to work on the GenOMICC study.
Hi Fiona, how long have you worked for the Roslin Institute?
It’s been just over 2 years, I started in June 2019.
What’s your role there and what do you do?
As the GenOMICC Study Coordinator, it’s my job to make sure the recruitment of severely ill patients to the GenOMICC research project runs as smoothly as possible. This means supporting all our participating sites (hospitals) with everything they need to recruit patients and ensuring each patient sample is received safely by the lab and reconciled with a clinical record. This is a huge task because the study is very big, approved to recruit in 219 individual hospitals.
What did you do before you worked for the Roslin Institute?
I’m a Project Manager but this is my first role in clinical research. I have always enjoyed the implementation of new projects and working on the GenOMICC study provided a wonderful new challenge. Clinical research is very well regulated so there was already a well-established framework guiding the requirements in this field.
What’s a typical day like?
We have a lovely team dedicated to managing our busy helpline and email account, supporting all our amazing research teams across the whole UK with any queries or requests they may have. This can range from simply requesting more specimen kits or supplies, to data management queries or more complex clinical questions around the eligibility criteria. As a critical care study, it’s really important that we reply to questions and requests as quickly as we can as often there is no time to wait.
What do you enjoy most?
GenOMICC is an incredible study to be part of. I love interacting with the research teams from all our sites. Most research teams will be recruiting for lots of clinical studies so it’s our job to make sure that recruiting to GenOMICC can be as straightforward as it possibly can be. Anything we can do to make the process simpler, we will. We’re so grateful to everyone who supports GenOMICC, from the patients and their families who consent to take part, to the research teams who manage the process in each hospital.
What can be challenging?
The biggest challenge is managing the logistics of ensuring everything is in place to enable recruitment for such a large study. However, regardless of how busy we are, we see challenges as obstacles to overcome and thrive on designing new processes so that a particular challenge can be solved, for example building automation into our sample management process.
What do you think about Sepsis Research FEAT and how they support the work you are doing?
Everyone on the team is very mindful of the charity – Sepsis Research FEAT is an amazing charity doing great things. We are very grateful that they recognize the work of the GenOMICC study and provide funding to help us with our research. The charity is a constant reminder of the human connection to the work we’re doing.
What are you hoping the research that you’re doing will lead to?
Eventually, results will influence treatments that will improve the outcome for critically ill patients in the future. However, GenOMICC is a long-term study and the journey to obtain the number of samples we need will be a long one the whole research process right from the very beginning is something we are very proud of.