Abstract:

Blood clots are essential for restoring homeostasis and regulating thrombosis. Following vascular injury, a series of biochemical and mechanical events lead to the formation of a soft fibrin network embedded with platelets—small, anucleate blood cells. Upon activation, platelets contract via actomyosin-driven forces, reshaping the clot, modifying its internal structure, and enhancing mechanical stability. In this talk, Dr. Sun will present an experimentally informed mesoscale computational model of fibrin- platelet blood clots developed to gain insights into the contraction mechanics of clots and to examine the interactions among different clot elements. She will highlight key findings from this work, including the emergent collective behavior of platelets, the direct link between forces generated by individual platelets and the contractile force of the clot, the dependence of this force on the network’s structural properties, and how clot contraction governs the entrapment and retention of red blood cells, shaping the clot’s structure and mechanical integrity. Finally, she will explore how these insights can inform medical applications for blood disorders, inspire the design of active materials, and advance our understanding of cell–polymer matrix interactions more broadly.

Biography:

Dr. Yueyi (Diana) Sun is an assistant professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department and the Integrative Engineering Program at Lafayette College. Her research focuses on modeling and probing active cell-polymer matrices and complex fluids at the intersection of mechanical and biomedical engineering. She developed an experimentally informed mesoscale computational model of fibrin-platelet blood clots to gain insights into the contraction mechanics of blood clots and to examine the interactions among different clot elements. Her work aims to uncover the underlying biophysics and mechanics of blood clotting, explain variations in formation and properties of blood clots, and translate lessons learned from the collective behavior of platelets and the active micromechanics of contracting clots into the design of novel active materials and medical applications. She completed her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees at Georgia Institute of Technology (2013-2023). She was named to the 2024 Top Under 30 Chinese American Youth Elite List, in recognition of her research achievements in blood clotting.