How blood biomarkers can predict trauma patient recovery days in advance

(Press-News.org) AURORA, Colo. (February 11, 2026) – Researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz have developed a way to predict how trauma patients will recover, days before complications come to fruition, by analyzing the molecules in their blood.

In a first-of-its-kind study, published today in Science Translational Medicine, the team showed that “omics” markers, or biological signals found in blood, can reveal why patients with similar injuries often recover differently, opening the door to more precise, personalized trauma care.

Researchers mapped the molecular endotypes and trajectories of more than 1,300 trauma patients over time, showing that organ failure and mortality can be predicted more accurately and efficiently using omics markers than traditional injury-based measures.

“Two patients often arrive in the ER with nearly identical injuries but go on to have widely divergent outcomes despite similar care,” said Mitchell Cohen, senior author and professor of surgery at CU Anschutz. “This occurs because their biologic response to injury and treatment is different, and our novel approach and modeling allow us to see those differences in real time, which could fundamentally change our practice.”

Furthermore, initial findings held true in an independent cohort of more than 300 trauma patients, rendering results capable of predicting trauma outcomes with 92% accuracy.

According to Kirk Hansen, professor of biochemistry a CU Anschutz and co-senior author, “This is precision medicine for trauma. By combining proteomics and metabolomics data, we can not only predict outcomes more accurately than traditional methods, but also start to understand the biology that drives those outcomes.”

The findings underscore CU Anschutz’s role as a national leader in trauma and critical care research. With its collaborative, cross-disciplinary approach, the campus is uniquely positioned to tackle the complexity of trauma, one of the leading causes of death worldwide. This research lays the foundation for personalized trauma care, with currently implementable methods in real-time emergency situations; the researchers are now working to adapt their molecular profiling approach for rapid, point-of-care testing in emergency and military settings. “Our colleagues at CU Anschutz are also about to embark on the first ever U.S. trial of a fibrinogen supplementation for trauma care in injuries on and off the battlefield. This work will directly affect how we think about the planning, conduct and results of that trial,” says Cohen, emphasizing the collaboration happening on campus in trauma and critical care research.

“This is precision metabolic health in action, validated in an independent cohort and ready for clinical use today,” said Angelo D’Alessandro, co-senior author and professor of biochemistry at CU Anschutz. “The same science that can forecast a trauma patient’s outcome days in advance also powers tools to understand how the body responds to extreme endurance and to safeguard the quality of donated blood.

“The future of personalized health isn’t decades away - it’s here now, for those with the vision to put it into practice.”

This study was co-authored by a team of experts at CU Anschutz including Jessica Cardenas, Christopher Silliman, Anirban Banerjee and Christopher Erickson, and was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense.

 

About the University of Colorado Anschutz
The University of Colorado Anschutz is a world-class academic medical campus leading transformative advances in science, medicine, education and patient care. The campus includes the University of Colorado’s health professional schools, more than 60 centers and institutes, and two nationally ranked independent hospitals - UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital and Children's Hospital Colorado - which see nearly three million adult and pediatric patient visits each year. Innovative, interconnected and highly collaborative, CU Anschutz delivers life-changing treatments, exceptional patient care and top-tier professional training. The campus conducts world-renowned research supported by $890 million in funding, including $762 million in sponsored awards and $128 million in philanthropic gifts for research.

 

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