Grant: Operating Grant

The formation of blood clots is an essential biological function for preventing blood loss during bleeding. Unfortunately, blood clots can form in our blood vessels even when we are not bleeding. These blood clots can lead to a heart attack, stroke, pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis (DVT), and tissue necrosis. Current therapies for controlling blood clotting aim at reducing or inhibiting enzymes and molecules that cause blood clotting to occur. For example, statins reduce cholesterol, a molecule that can inflame blood vessels and lead to atherosclerosis and then blood clotting. These approaches have improved the quality of life of humans, but one-third of all people will still die due to the formation of a blood clot. This proposal describes research to develop a complementary approach to the current therapies. Specifically, we will develop small biopolymers that form synthetic blood clots and replace natural blood clots. Our hypothesis is that thin layers of these synthetic blood clots could be formed in a controlled manner at regions of inflamed vessels to block large blood clots from forming. In the future, this technology may also be used to modify blood clots, making them degrade faster, and thereby preventing heart attacks and strokes. This technology may also lead to a strategy to replace components of blood clotting given during transfusions and reduce our dependence on blood from donors.