Personalizing emergency and acute treatments

Personalizing EmerGency/Acute therapeuticS Utilizing Systems biology (PEGASUS-2)

NIH-funded research Denver Health and Hospital Authority · NIH-11238019

This program uses patients' medical records and biological samples to tailor medicines for people treated in emergency departments for common acute problems like pain, nausea, and heart issues.

Quick facts

Grant typeNIH-funded research
Study typeNIH-funded research
Funding institutionDenver Health and Hospital Authority NIH-funded
Lab location1 site (Denver, United States)
Project IDNIH-11238019 on NIH RePORTER

What this research studies

As a patient, your emergency department record would be linked to blood and other samples stored in the emergency medicine specimen bank for analysis of genes, proteins, metabolites, and epigenetic markers. Researchers will apply machine learning, polygenic risk scores, and multi-omic models to look for biological patterns that predict who will benefit from specific emergency medicines and who might get side effects. The team is expanding on prior PEGASUS work to include more drug types and to test their findings at additional hospitals to make sure results hold true for different groups. The goal is to turn these findings into tools that help clinicians pick safer, more effective medicines in acute care.

Who could benefit from this research

Good fit: Ideal candidates are people who come to a participating emergency department with common acute issues such as severe pain, nausea, or cardiovascular symptoms and who agree to provide biospecimens and share their electronic health records.

Not a fit: People with chronic stable conditions who are not treated in an emergency setting, or those unwilling to provide samples or allow access to medical records, are unlikely to benefit directly.

Why it matters

Potential benefit: Could help clinicians choose medicines in the emergency department that work better and cause fewer side effects.

How similar studies have performed: Precision-medicine and multi-omic approaches have shown promising results in other clinical areas and the project builds on earlier PEGASUS work, but applying these methods broadly in emergency care is relatively new.

Where this research is happening

Denver, United States

Researchers

About this research

  1. This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
  2. Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
  3. For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.
Conditions Cardiovascular Diseases
Last reviewed 2026-06-13 by the Find a Trial editorial team. Information on this page is for educational purposes and is not medical advice. Always consult qualified healthcare professionals about clinical trial participation.