Intensive Care Medicine & Bloomsbury Institute of Intensive Care Medicine

Research Information

The main interests of the group relate to sepsis and multi-organ failure,
severe infection, and novel monitoring techniques and management of shock states. There is a strong emphasis on translational research, from bench to bedside and back to bench. Particular areas of basic science interest relate to mitochondrial, immune and vascular dysfunction.

Key clinical studies

  1. O’Brien AJ, Clapp L, Singer M. Terlipressin therapy for norepinephrine-resistant septic shock Lancet 2002; 359: 1209-10
  2. Singer M, De Santis V, Vitale D, Jeffcoate W. Multiorgan failure is an adaptive, endocrine-mediated, metabolic response to overwhelming systemic inflammation. Lancet 2004; 364:545-8
  3. Singer M, Coluzzi F, O’Brien A, Clapp LH. Reversal of life-threatening, drug-related potassium-channel syndrome by glibenclamide. Lancet 2005; 365:1873-75
  4. Harvey S, Harrison DA, Singer M et al on behalf of the PAC-Man Study Collaboration. Assessment of the clinical effectiveness of pulmonary artery catheters in management of patients in intensive care (PAC-Man): a randomised controlled trial. Lancet 2005; 366: 472-7
  5. Cepeda JA, Whitehouse T, Cooper B, Hails J, Jones K, Kwaku F, Taylor L, Hayman S, Cookson B, Shaw S, Kibbler C, Singer M, Bellingan G, Wilson APR.
  6. Isolation of patients in single rooms or cohorts to reduce spread of MRSA in intensive-care units: prospective two-centre study. Lancet 2005; 365:295-304
  7. Sprung CL, Annane D, Keh D, Moreno R., Singer M, et al for the Corticus Study Group. Hydrocortisone therapy for patients with septic shock. N Engl J Med 2008; 358:111-24
  8. Kidd IM, Down J, Nastouli E, Shulman R, Grant PR, Howell DC, Singer M. H1N1 pneumonitis treated with intravenous zanamivir. Lancet. 2009;374:1036

Key laboratory studies

  1. Brealey D, Brand M, Hargreaves I, Heales S, Land J, Smolenski R, Davies NA, Cooper CE, Singer M. Association between mitochondrial dysfunction and severity and outcome of septic shock. Lancet 2002; 360: 219-23
  2. Whitehouse T, Stotz M, Taylor V, Stidwill R, Singer M. Tissue oxygen and  hemodynamics in renal medulla, cortex & cortico-medullary junction during  hemorrhage-reperfusion. Am J Physiol Ren Physiol 2006; 291:F647-53
  3. Svistunenko DA, Davies NA, Brealey D, Singer M, Cooper CE. Mitochondrial dysfunction in patients with severe sepsis: an EPR interrogation of individual respiratory chain components. Biochim Biophys Acta 2006; 1757:262-72
  4. Gibot S, Massin F, Marcou M, Taylor V, Stidwill R, Wilson P, Singer M, Bellingan G. TREM-1 promotes survival during septic shock in mice. Eur J Immunol.  2007;37:456-66.
  5. Protti A, Carré J, Frost MT, Taylor V, Stidwill R, Rudiger A, Singer M. Succinate recovers mitochondrial oxygen consumption in septic rat skeletal muscle. Crit Care Med 2007; 35: 2150-5
  6. Dyson A, Stidwill R, Taylor V, Singer M. Tissue oxygen monitoring in rodent models of shock. Am J Physiol Heart Circul Physiol 2007; 293:H526-33
  7. Barrett LK, Orie NN, Taylor V, Stidwill RP, Clapp LH, Singer M. Differential effects of vasopressin and norepinephrine on vascular reactivity in a long-term rodent model of sepsis. Crit Care Med 2007; 35: 2337-43
  8. Ackland GL, Gutierrez Del Arroyo A, Yao ST, Stephens RC, Dyson A, Klein NJ, Singer M, Gourine AV. Low molecular weight polyethylene glycol improves survival in experimental sepsis.  Crit Care Med 2009 [in press]
  9. Ackland GL, Yao ST, Rudiger A, Dyson A, Stidwill R, Poputnikov D, Singer M, Gourine AV. Cardioprotection, attenuated systemic inflammation and survival benefit of beta-1-adrenoceptor blockade in severe sepsis in rats. Crit Care Med 2009 [in press]