Colorado School of Mines Applied Mathematics and Statistics Assistant Professor Karin Leiderman is part of a team of researchers that has been awarded nearly $500,000 by the Army Research Office to study blood coagulation.
The $499,894 grant from the Army Research Office’s Mathematical Sciences Division is funding the project, “Incorporating Uncertainty to Improve Accuracy in Mathematical Modeling of Coagulation.”
A break in a blood vessel triggers blood coagulation, a complex network of biochemical reactions where dozens of proteins act collectively to form a gel and seal the injury. Leiderman and colleagues will use a combined mathematical, statistical and experimental bottom-up approach to develop and experimentally validate a mathematical model of blood coagulation. Their approach will employ global uncertainty and sensitivity analysis to account for and quantify experimental noise, uncertainty in protein levels and kinetic rate constants, as well as determine missing or incorrect kinetic schemes. The project seeks to establish an accurate, predictive model that will complement existing experimental assays in risk prediction and therapeutics development.
“Our model is expected to have a positive impact,” Leiderman said. “It will seamlessly and accurately probe the coagulation network and thus provide a more detailed analysis of the pathways and rate constants leading to thrombin generation. It could also be used to inform anticoagulant treatment strategies and speed the development of prohemostatic agents by helping to find optimal biochemical targets or combinations of synergistic targets that treat or prevent bleeding.”
The grant is a collaboration with Dougald Monroe from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Suzanne Sindi from the University of California, Merced. Leiderman will receive $179,569 for her work on the project.
CONTACT
Joe DelNero, Digital Media and Communications Manager, Communications and Marketing | 303-273-3326 | jdelnero@mines.edu
Mark Ramirez, Managing Editor, Communications and Marketing | 303-273-3088 | ramirez@mines.edu
