A bloody problem: to clot or not to clot!*

The passion of my current postdoc-hood is blood, or to be more precise, the proteins that reside in this vital fluid. So, let me tell you what my research is all about.

I guess everyone has experienced bleeding from big or small wounds. And surely a lot of you must  have wondered how the bleeding stops. Wounds stop bleeding because of blood-clotting; the formation of clumps of blood cells at the wound-site.

But clotting can also be dangerous. For example, blood clots in the arteries connected to the heart can block blood flow causing a heart attack. To prevent this, heart patients use medication that reduces clotting.

So, here is the bloody problem

Medication that stops dangerous clotting can also prevent normal clotting. So, even small wounds may not stop bleeding. What we ideally need is a drug that stops dangerous clotting without affecting the normal clotting.

Is there a solution?

There is a protein in our blood called Factor XII that can potentially solve this problem. Factor XII seems to increase clotting only in disease.

My research

I am studying how Factor XII works. It has recently been discovered that Factor XII in blood can be activated by negatively charged molecules called 'polyphosphates'. I am interested in finding out how polyphosphates interact with Factor XII and how this interaction leads to clotting.

 

The expected outcome...in the far, far future

Once we know how Factor XII works, we can design new drugs to reduce the clotting it causes! 

Having said that, I must admit that while the outcome in the far future vaguely interests me, it is the immediate details of the puzzle in hand that give me the most pleasure. 

* Adapted from my prize-winning (ahem!) poster from a competition on "Public Understanding of Research"