We are delighted to have had UCL Mechanical Engineering and Hawkes Institute researchers Professor Vanessa Diaz and Professor Stavroula Balabani recently secured two grants, focused on tackling thrombosis and chronic type B aortic dissection (TBAD).
The first grant, ‘Pioneering multi-level thrombosis risk prediction models - ThromboRisk’, is a €4.4M EU consortium led by TU Eindhoven that aims to train 18 doctoral candidates in diverse scientific fields, including mechanobiology, biochemistry, pathophysiology, and modelling. UCL’s £650,000 contribution will focus on “Thrombosis-on-a-chip” and patient-specific thrombosis in aortic dissection.
Our researchers will collaborate within an international and interdisciplinary consortium to develop a platform advancing our understanding of thrombosis across scales, thereby bridging the gap between micro-level thrombus processes and macro-level impacts on disease prognosis, enabling clinical application.
They will also work on real-world problems with peers, supervisors, consortium members, and external stakeholders, who act as “real clients” and co-creators.
For the second grant, titled ‘False lumen thrombosis hemodynamic predictors in chronic Aortic Dissection B (FLAIR)’, the researchers will aim to develop and test new ways of predicting when blood clots (thrombus) will form inside the ‘false lumen’ of the aorta in patients with chronic type B aortic dissection (TBAD).
To do this, new blood flow markers will be tested in lab-made models of patient aortas to see if they match real-world behaviour, and computer models will be improved to run faster and calculate markers in patient-specific dissections. The models will then be verified on whether the markers reliably predict thrombus by comparing lab experiments with patients’ scans.
By creating more accurate prediction tools, clinicians could better determine what patients require closer monitoring or earlier treatment.
FLAIR is a £58,000 project led by UCL and working in collaboration with University College London Hospital (UCLH) and Norfolk and Norwich Hospitals.
Speaking about the new grants, Professor Vanessa Diaz said:
Thrombosis is silent but deadly, causing strokes, heart attacks, and lung clots. Our research will help clinicians predict which patients are at risk, so they can intervene before it’s too late.
