Functional studies on blood coagulation

The Functional studies on blood coagulation Service is managed by a research group with consolidated experience in the study of blood coagulation proteins. The group boasts extensive expertise, evidenced by numerous publications in prestigious international scientific journals, in investigating expression levels and characterizing natural and engineered protein variants.

These competencies are applied in research projects focused on the clinical impact of quantitative variations in pro- and anti-coagulant proteins (e.g., Factor VII, IX, X, and Thrombin), which cause hemorrhagic or prothrombotic tendencies.

The service provides optimized technologies and assays to monitor the efficiency of the coagulation cascade, from initiation (Factor X activation generation) to amplification (Thrombin generation).

The service offers support for:

• Functional and biocompatibility assessment of biomaterials and devices used in contact with blood (e.g., dialysis systems).

• Biochemical characterization of natural and engineered variants of coagulation proteins.

• Targeted studies within clinical research on protein level variations in different pathologies.

Specifically, it is possible to perform:

• Fluorogenic functional assays: High-sensitivity monitoring of the initiation and amplification of the coagulation process on micro-volumes of plasma, even after treatment or processing. Data analysis is completed with dedicated software (GraphPad Prism).

• ELISA and binding assays: Quantitative analysis of specific coagulation proteins and assessment of protein-molecule interactions with the calculation of binding constants.

• One- and Two-dimensional Electrophoresis and Western-blotting: Separation, qualitative, and semi-quantitative analysis of proteins from plasma, biological fluids, or cell extracts, including the analysis of known protein expression.