Bryan B. Hsu, Shuguang Zhang and Paula T. Hammond, Koch Institute at MIT
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.
Keywords: 2016, Hammond Laboratory, Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies, electron microscopy, tissue repair, blood vessels, nanomaterials, MIT
Collection: Image Awards 2016