The International Society of Thrombosis and Hemostasis (ISTH) and European Hematology Association (EHA) have selected three candidates for the ISTH training fellowship. One of these three talented young researchers is our own SYMPHONY post-doc Iris van Moort (Workpackage 12; Ruben Bierings)! With this fellowship Iris will be able to visit the hematology bioengineering laboratory of Dr. Wilbur Lam in Atlanta (USA) to learn how to construct and leverage their in vitro vascularized microfluidic, mechanical injury bleeding model to simulate the modifying factors that influence bleeding phenotypes. This will of course help gain insight into the factors that explain the large inter-individual variation in bleeding phenotype, which SYMPHONY hopes to unravel.
The ISTH-EHA training fellowship program is intended to provide support for short-term training opportunities for early career professionals (clinical, translational or basic research) in the field, who wish to study at host institutes well-known for their expertise in thrombosis and hemostasis. Iris is currently working in the research group of Dr. Ruben Bierings and specifically studying how the blood vessel wall and the vascular endothelium contribute to the clinical bleeding phenotype. These studies are performed by isolating endothelial colony forming cells (ECFCs) from patients’ blood. As hemostasis is a complex physiological process that depends on the interplay between blood cells, plasma proteins, hemodynamic forces and the vessel wall, such a model is valuable for research. The laboratory of Dr. Lam has recently developed an in vitro bleeding model that integrates all these components and that allows to differentiate between t their individual roles.
During this fellowship, we will share and combine our expertise on patient-derived ECFCs with the expertise on microfluidics to generate an in vitro bleeding model . In conclusion, a great opportunity to study bleeding disorders in the laboratory! Congratulation for Iris and WP12!
Written by Iris van Moort, Post-doc WP12