[Trauma research net of the German Society for Orthopaedics and Trauma Surgery].

A first meeting of the recently founded "Trauma Research Net" of the German Society for Orthopaedics and Trauma Surgery (DGOU e.V.) took place at the Reisensburg Castle, Günzburg, from 24 to 26 February 2011. Numerous representatives of trauma-related Research Institutes and University Hospitals in Germany demonstrated their main research foci. There was also an open discussion of current problems in trauma research, especially the lack of junior researchers and nationwide collaborations as well as limited information about the research topics of individual research groups. The overall research efforts of the "Trauma Research Net" apparently focus on fracture, multiple injury and inflammation on an organ and cellular level. Furthermore, an up-to-date matrix of the existing methods has been generated which is now provided for the networker. The common middle-term goal of the "Trauma Research Net" is the inclusive, intensive scientific exchange as well as the generation and workup of common hypotheses using standard operating procedures. In the long term, the resulting clustered research activities are intended to address and resolve clinically relevant questions in the field of trauma research.