Blood Clots with Fibrin and Nanofiber, Colorized

Blood Clots with Fibrin and Nanofiber, Colorized

Bryan B. Hsu, Shuguang Zhang and Paula T. Hammond, Koch Institute at MIT

Koch Institute at MIT, MIT Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies

These images show what a blood clot looks like on a microscopic scale. You can see the blood cells mixed in with either fibrin (the naturally occurring protein that assembles to give mechanical strength to a blood clot) (left) or a short peptide (RADA16-I) (right) that spontaneously self-assembles to entrap the blood cells, forming an artificial clot. We have found that the latter can help shorten bleeding times.

 

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