Blood Vessels on a Chip Test Clotting

Blood clotting, also known as coagulation, is a critical biological mechanism to prevent excessive blood loss in the event of an injury to a blood vessel. During this complex process, a cascade of biochemical reactions occurs in which platelets and plasma in the blood solidify into a clot, patching up the site of injury.

Too little and it can cause hemorrhaging, such as in patients with hemophilia, and too much can cause strokes, deep vein thrombosis, and other life-threatening conditions. The challenge is being able to quantify coagulation in patients both from a clinical perspective as well as for developing target drugs to either enhance or reduce clotting.

Biomedical engineers have made a breakthrough in the field, inventing a microfluidic device that mirrors the intricate structures of the vasculature, giving clinicians the power to analyze the coagulation potential of a blood sample faster, more efficiently, and at a much lower cost than existing technologies.

The microfluidic device Abhishek Jain and his team developed to help detect blood clots. Copyright Texas A&M College of Engineering.

The scientists from Texas A&M University designed the device to mimic the curves, twists, and turns of a blood vessel such as a capillary or vein in the body. These structural features play a role in…