This is WHAT we do…We study the molecular mechanisms of thrombosis and hemostasis.

This is WHY we do it…Blood clots affect as many as 900,000 people each year, leading to approximately 100,000 premature deaths, only in the US. Antiphospholipid Syndrome is an autoimmune disorder that significantly predisposes young individuals to blood clots but diagnosis and managing is challenging and there is no cure.

This is HOW we do it…We use biochemical, biophysical, and bioengineering methods, like single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy, protein engineering, genetic incorporation of non-canonical amino acids, single-particle electron microscopy (negative stain EM and cryo-EM), X-ray crystallography, surface plasmon resonance, and microfluidics technologies, to investigate how coagulation and complement factors operate and crosstalk during physiological conditions (i.e., hemostasis) and how their function is altered during pathological scenarios, leading to potentially life-threatening conditions like thrombosis (i.e., excessive formation of blood clots) and bleeding (i.e., inefficient formation of blood clots). Basic knowledge inferred from our studies helps to explain patients’ clinical phenotypes, identify patients at higher risk of cardiovascular events and develop new strategies to restore hemostasis.