Douglas Fraser
Affiliations
Scientist, Division of Children's Health and Therapeutics, Children’s Health Research Institute
Consultant, Paediatrics Critical Care Medicine, Children’s Hospital, London Health Sciences Centre
Associate Professor, Departments of Paediatrics, Physiology & Pharmacology, and Clinical Neurological Sciences, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University
Clinician Scientist, Centre for Critical Illness Research, Lawson Health Research Institute
Director, Translational Research Centre
How my research helps children
Brain injury is a common reason for children to be admitted to the Critical Care Unit and is a major cause of death and long-term disability. The causes of brain injury in children are diverse and include trauma, stroke, metabolic disease, severe sepsis, and diabetic ketoacidosis. Despite the different origins of brain injury, there are commonalities in pathophysiological mechanisms. We are determining these key mechanisms of injury to the developing brain for development of neuroprotective therapeutics and we are determining prognostic indicators of brain injury severity to help stratify therapeutic interventions.
Research
Current Research Activities
Our research includes several mouse models of brain injury and collection of biological samples from children with acquired brain injury for laboratory analyses (blood and cerebrospinal fluid).
- Determining the mechanisms underlying acquired brain injury in trauma, diabetic ketoacidosis and severe sepsis/inflammation. This work includes mouse disease models complemented with use of human tissues for well-controlled in vitro laboratory studies.
- Determining the sensitivity and specificity for prognosticating severity of brain injury following trauma, diabetic ketoacidosis and severe sepsis/inflammation.
Paediatric Critical Illness/Trauma pathophysiology and epidemiology.
Current Research Team
Graduate Students:
- Ms. Taylor Close, MSc (CIHR Doctoral Scholarship)
- Mr. Chris Blom, BSc (Department of Paediatrics Graduate Student Scholarship)
- Ms. Claudia Augustine, BSc (Children's Health Foundation, Graduate Student Support)
Post-doctoral Fellows:
- Dr. Fukashi Serizawa, MD, PhD (Sendai, Japan)
- Dr. Tatsushi Omatsu, MD, PhD (Kyoto, Japan)
Research Assistant:
- Ms. Carolina Gillio-Meina, PhD (TRC)
Collaboration:
- Dr. Gedas Cepinskas, PhD (Scientist, Lawson Health Research Institute)
- Dr. Jason Gilliland, PhD (Associate Professor, UWO Geography)
- Ms. Tanya Charyk Stewart, MSc (Epidemiologist, LHSC Trauma Program)
- Canadian Critical Care Translational Biology Group (www.ccctbg.ca)
Future Research Plans
My research is strongly translational, with future plans of strengthening relationships between laboratory and clinical studies. In addition, I am currently collaborating with several industry partners to develop bedside prognostic kits.
Awards & Grants
Awards & Grants
Sepsis-Associate Encephalopathy (PI), $166,000
Awarded by Physicians Services' Incorporated Foundation (PSIF), 2011-2013
Acute Rehabiliation in Critically Ill Children, a Multicentre Study (CoI), $219,870
Awarded by Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR), 2011-2013
Traffic and Road Injury Prevention Program – Team Grant (CoI), $500,000
Awarded by Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR), 2011-2016
Translational Research Centre (Director), Operating
Children's Health Foundation (CHF), 2009-2014
Recent Publications
Publications
State-of-the-Art Reviews
Morrison G, Fraser DD, Cepinskas G (2011) Mechanisms and consequences of acquired brain injury during development. Pathophysiology. In press.
Brisson A, Matsui D, Rieder MJ, Fraser DD (2011) Translational research in pediatrics: tissue sampling and bio-banking. Pediatrics. Dec 5 [Epub ahead of print].
Trauma
Charyk-Stwert T, Polgar D, Tanner DA, Gilliland G, Girotti MJ, Parry N, Fraser DD (2011) Shaken baby syndrome and a triple dose strategy for prevention. Journal of Trauma. In press.
Sangha G, Pepelassis D, Buffo I, Seabrook J, Fraser DD (2011) Elevated serum troponin-I as an indicator of clinically significant myocardial injury in pediatric trauma patients. Injury. Nov 25 [Epub ahead of print].
Fraser DD, Close TE, Rose KE, Ward R, Mehl M, Farrell C, Lacroix J, Creery D, Kesselman M, Stanimirovic D, Hutchison JS (2011) Severe traumatic brain injury in children elevates glial fibrillary acidic protein in cerebrospinal fluid and serum. Pediatric Critical Care Medicine. 12(3):319-324.
Forward K, Chan M, Charyk-Stewart T, Gilliland J, Campbell C, Fraser DD (2010) Injury analyses in rural children: comparison of old-order Anabaptist and non-Anabaptist. Journal of Trauma. 69:1294-1299.
Wyllie J, Morrison GC, Naik K, Kornecki A, Kotylack TB, Fraser DD, Kornecki A (2009) Lung contusion in children – early computed tomography versus radiography. Pediatric Critical Care Medicine 10(6):643-647.
Diabetic Ketoacidosis
Sottosanti M, Singh RN, Sharma A, Fraser DD, Alawi K, Stein R, Kornecki A (2011) Quantifying dehydration in children with DKA: A prospective study. Archives of Disease in Childhood. In Press.
Foster JR, Morrison G, Fraser DD (2011) Stroke associated with diabetic ketoacidosis in children and youth. Stroke Research and Treatment. Feb 22;2011:219706.
Mahmud FH, Ramsay D, Levin SS, Singh RN, Kotylack T, Fraser DD (2007) Coma with diffuse white matter hemorrhages in juvenile diabetic ketoacidosis. Pediatrics 120(6):E1540-E1546.
Rose K, Pin CL, Wang R, Fraser DD (2007) Combined insulin and bicarbonate therapy elicits cerebral edema in a juvenile mouse model of diabetic ketoacidosis. Pediatric Research 61:301-306
Sepsis/Inflammation
Yazdan-Ashoori P, Liaw P, Toltl L, Webb B, Kilmer G, Carter D, Fraser DD (2011) Elevated plasma matrix metalloproteinases and their tissue inhibitors in patients with severe sepsis. Journal of Critical Care. 26(6): 556-565.
Cepinskas G, Katada K, Bihari A, Mizuguchi S, Yoshida N, Yoshikawa T, Fraser DD, Potter R (2010) Carbon monoxide liberated from CO-releasing molecule (CORM-2) attenuates ischemia/reperfusion (I/R)-induced inflammation in the small intestine. Inflammation. 33(2):92-100.
Choong K, Joffe A, Fraser DD, Litalien C, Menon K, McNamara P, Gaboury I, Ward R, Hutchison J, Bohn D (2009) Vasopressin in pediatric vasodilatory shock – a randomized controlled trial. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 180:632-639.
Contact
Contact
Phone: 519-685-8500 x 58386 or 58052
Fax: 519-685-8766
Email: douglas [dot] fraser [at] lhsc [dot] on [dot] ca