This EAGER award by the Biomaterials program in the Division of Materials Research to University of Maryland is aimed at obtaining preliminary data on the material properties and blood coagulation mechanism of a novel polymer hemostatic hydrogel material. Structure-property material optimization experiments will be performed to determine the key chemical, biological, mechanical and morphological characteristics of the hydrogel that are necessary to induce fibrin formation and produce a robust clot. Blood Clotting Factor deficient and Blood Clotting Factor inhibition studies will be completed to isolate the vital biological components in the hemostasis. Dynamic mechanical analysis experiments will be performed to determine the various regions of mechanical equivalency in these 3-component hydrogels, and elucidate the relationship between mechanical properties, Blood Clotting FVII activation, and fibrin formation. The education activities to be undertaken in this work are designed to educate and train next-generation scientists and engineers that embrace diversity as a strength. Initiatives are planned that assist in undergraduate and graduate education, graduate student mentoring, and training of high school students from schools in minority-rich communities.
Uncontrolled hemorrhaging accounts for over 1 million deaths world-wide each year and is the leading cause of preventable deaths after hospital admission for physical injury in the U.S. trauma centers. Millions more around the world suffer injuries that need bandaging to prevent blood loss and cover wounds. There is a clear need for the advancement of hemostatic technology in order to develop next generation materials which are inexpensive, safe, and capable of rapidly stopping blood loss. The proposed research will have an immediate and direct impact on the millions of people around the world who die of blood loss each year along with those who suffer from lethal clotting disorders, such as hemophilia. An inexpensive, biocompatible synthetic material that has the ability to induce effective clotting would have a transformative scientific impact and has the potential to save countless lives. Students sponsored from this project will be educated and trained in polymer material science and bioengineering. The PI will utilize the existing programs in the campus to recruit and train students of many different educational levels, and from diverse and under-privilege backgrounds.
Intellectual Merit: This research aims to investigate the use of synthetic materials, polymer hydrogels, as blood clotting materials in surgical and traumatic bleeding. The goal was to gain understanding of how material design influences key hemostatic factors that are necessary to rapidly stop blood loss by investigating the interplay of platelet activation, aggregation, and coagulation. This work is important because of the high cost and safety issues associated with commercial hemostatic products. Current hemostatic products are either biological-based or synthetic-based. Biological-based hemostatics, although they have excellent hemostatic effects and work via the promotion of the body’s natural responses, they are incredibly expensive and carry risks of disease infection and severe immunological response. Synthetic hemostatic agents are typically less expensive and immune-inert; yet often fail to effectively induce the coagulation cascade. Such synthetic agents are mainly designed to be mere physical obstructions to impede blood flow or simply act as temporary sealants. The hydrogels ability to activate coagulation has been characterized in vitro. The hydrogel characteristics that are necessary to accelerate or augment blood coagulation in vivo have also been identified. Broader Impacts: This project integrates the disciplines of materials science, and biology, by providing new fundamental understanding of the interaction of synthetic materials with blood. This work has had a great deal of education outreach associated with it, including the mentoring and participation of high school, undergraduate and international students.The societal and technological outputs would lead to increased hemostatic availability in low resource settings as well as use in populations affected by bleeding disorders.The body’s natural hemostatic response in patients with bleeding disorders is unable to control even minor bleeding. Trauma remains a leading cause of death worldwide. Research into the ability of certain materials capable of activating, amplifying or assisting the body’s natural coagulation cascade is vital to enhancing our understanding of the blood coagulation mechanism and essential to the development of future hemostatic products.