Sepsis research at Upstate has a long history, focusing on preclinical and translational research aimed at developing and evaluating therapeutic approaches for sepsis treatment in highly clinically-relevant porcine sepsis models.

In response to the National initiative in solving sepsis through driving innovation and accelerating transformative technologies, Dr. Robert Cooney, MD, Professor and Chair of Surgery, and Dr. Juntao Luo, PhD, Associate professor of Pharmacology, have co-founded the Sepsis Interdisciplinary Research Center (SIRC) and serve as co-directors to modulate research collaborations and grant applications in translational sepsis research.

SIRC is a highly collaborative and integrative research group with synergistic and multidisciplinary expertise from therapeutic development, molecular biology, immunology, pathophysiology and clinical care. Eight laboratories in the Department of Pharmacology and the Department of Surgery are actively conducting research in sepsis, trauma, wound healing, pulmonary and hematological diseases, funded by multiple active federal grants, including four NIH R01 grants, and R21, NSF, and DoD awards.