Project Info 

Mathematical modeling of blood coagulation

Karin Leiderman | kleiderman@mines.edu

A break in a blood vessel triggers the process of blood coagulation, designed to seal the injury. Coagulation begins when tissue factor (TF) in the damaged vessel wall becomes exposed to blood, binds enzymes in the plasma and initiates a series of chemical reactions that help form a gel to stabilize growing blood clots. The coagulation response must be rapid and powerful to quickly prevent blood loss, but it must also be tightly regulated in order not to block normal blood flow. It is extremely difficult to intuit the system’s response without quantitative methods. Our group has developed mathematical models to address this challenge. Mathematical models can be powerful tools because they allow one to track the concentrations of every protein and enzyme complex during simulations. This project would focus on answering a question about the mechanism of action of a particular coagulation inhibitor; is interesting because it uses the power of mathematics to address questions about human health and physiology.

More Information

http://www.thrombosisresearch.com/article/S0049-3848(14)00130-3/abstract

https://academic.oup.com/imammb/article-abstract/28/1/47/679981

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006349511013142

Grand Engineering Challenge: Not applicable