Blood-clotting disorders

New center to study bleeding disorders and clot formation

 
 
Blood-clotting disorders
Blood

Strands of a protein called von Willebrand Factor (orange) play a key role in blood clotting. Secreted by cells lining the blood vessels, the strands capture platelets and initiate the formation of blood clots.

 

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine have received a $9 million grant to investigate blood-clotting disorders. From heart attacks and strokes to uncontrolled bleeding, clotting disorders cause more deaths each year in the United States than all types of cancer combined.

“Blood clots in veins and arteries remain one of the great killers,” says principal investigator J. Evan Sadler, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Hematology. “The goal of this grant is to shorten the time between a new discovery in blood clotting or bleeding disorders and the application of that knowledge to help patients.”

Washington University is one of only five universities across the country receiving funding from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to support a new Translational Research Center in Thrombotic and Hemostatic Disorders.

Washington University is one of only five universities across the country receiving funding from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to support a new Translational Research Center in Thrombotic and Hemostatic Disorders.

At Washington University, researchers are focusing on five projects that look at bleeding disorders, including some that are rare, and clot formation in both large and small blood vessels. Sadler emphasizes the value of studying uncommon bleeding disorders.

“Many discoveries in this field have been made by the careful investigation of unique patients with inherited disorders that are quite rare,” Sadler says. “But the knowledge gained from studying those patients has provided a foothold into understanding thrombosis or bleeding in humans generally.”

The five initial projects will be led by Sadler, John P. Atkinson, MD, the Samuel Grant Professor of Medicine, Enrico Di Cera, MD, professor and chairman of biochemistry at Saint Louis University, George J. Broze, MD, professor of medicine, and Samuel A. Wickline, MD, professor of medicine.

The grant also supports several core resources, such as a tissue banking core, and an educational component.

NHLBI U54 HL112303

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