Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

The importance of blood can never be overemphasized. Continuously circulating through the body, blood performs many crucial biological functions, including supply of oxygen and nutrients to and removal of metabolic wastes from tissues; circulation of white blood cells, antibodies and platelets for immunization and self-repair; and regulation of body pH and temperature. These blood functions are mainly accomplished in the microvascular network composed of microvessels and capillaries. As observed in fundamental studies and clinical observations, abnormal microscopic blood flow behaviors are often associated with various diseases and disorders, such as heart diseases, hypertension, diabetes, cancers, malaria, anemia, and atherosclerosis.In the microcirculation, blood cannot be treated as a continuum fluid, since the blood cells are comparable to the microvessels and capillaries in size. To study microscopic blood flows, we will develop numerical models with red blood cells represented as three-dimensional flexible capsules suspended in plasma. The dynamic interaction between blood flows and the protein fibers on microvessel surfaces will be carefully examined for its important role in many biological functions and processes. We will also investigate the effects of various cell, flow, and vessel parameters on the blood flow behaviors and functions in the microvascular network.This program will advance our knowledge of the complex blood flow behaviors in the microcirculation; and it can therefore improve our understanding of how abnormal blood properties can affect blood functions in patients with, for example, hypertension, diabetes, or malaria. Information obtained from this research can also benefit relevant biomedical and clinical applications, such as blood substitute development for severe hemorrhage, blood analysis with biochips, and nanoparticle transport with blood flows in the microcirculation for drug delivery.