1
PURPOSE
The main goal of ESTABLISH is to build a detailed biological profile of patients during the first hours and days of critical illness. This includes studying how the immune system reacts, how infections interact with the body, and how these responses vary between individuals. The study also aims to create a shared research platform to support future studies and reduce the burden on patients by coordinating sample collection.
2
PROGRESS
316
1000
patients enrolled
(as of Sept. 2025)
3
FUTURE
Over the next 10-15 years, ESTABLISH will enroll up to 1,000 ICU patients and follow them through their hospital stay and beyond. The data and samples collected will be used to discover new biological markers of disease, develop personalized treatment strategies, improve long-term outcomes for ICU survivors, and supports future research through data sharing and collaboration. This study lays the foundation for a new era of precision medicine in critical care.
What is ESTABLISH?
ESTABLISH is a long-term research project that aims to uncover the biological processes that occur in the earliest stages of critical illness. By collecting and analyzing blood and other biological samples from ICU patients, researchers hope to better understand how the body responds to life-threatening conditions and why some patients recover while others do not.
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Why is this important?
Despite decades of research, most ICU patients still receive supportive care rather than treatments tailored to their biology. The ESTABLISH study aims to change this by identifying early biological markers that can lead to more accurate diagnoses, personalized therapies, and a better understanding of critical illness.
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What is involved in the study?
The study is led by Dr. Aleksandra Leligdowicz and involves a large team of co-investigators from critical care, microbiology, immunology, genomics, and computational science. These experts collaborate to analyze biological samples, interpret clinical data, and develop new tools for understanding and treating critical illness.
About
Dr. Aleks Leligdowicz
Dr. Leligdowicz's lab studies early biological samples from patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit to understand how heterogeneity in the immune response and endothelial injury relate to patient outcomes, including the risk of developing hospital-acquired infections, the severity of illness, response to therapies, cardiovascular complications, and cognitive function after hospital discharge.
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Find more information on her lab's website.