Clinical Pathology resident Dr. Nora Springer received a $2500 research award from the American Society for Veterinary Clinical Pathology (ASVCP) in March 2011. For the past three years, ASVCP has given one “Share the Future” research award per year, based on the quality of the candidate’s written proposal and the potential of the project to expand the knowledge base in veterinary clinical pathology. The grants range from $1,000 to $2,500, and are used to support new research by clinical pathology residents and graduate students.
Springer will use her award to investigate how tiny particles shed from platelets in the blood can lead to blood clots and thrombotic diseases in horses. She hopes to develop tests that will detect developing problems and help prevent thrombosis. Every cell in the body sheds microparticles, and those derived from platelets are the most common kind in the blood. These platelet-derived microparticles encourage blood to coagulate, and if enough accumulate they can form clots in blood vessels that obstruct blood flow, leading to thrombotic diseases in both horses and humans.
“Horses are at risk for thrombosis with inflammatory diseases, some of which are quite common, such as colic. The onset of thrombosis can drastically alter the clinical course of the disease and result in longer hospitalization times or death,” said Springer. “Unfortunately, Thrombosis is difficult to prevent because current tests can’t detect when a patient is at risk. Identifying at-risk patients before symptoms emerge is essential to guide therapy and minimize these diseases. I aim to develop new testing methods using bead-based flow cytometry that will count platelet-derived microparticles in equine blood and plasma, and to determine how these microparticles influence thrombosis.”
These new tests may allow clinicians to detect and predict thrombosis in patients, and develop treatments or prevention plans to stop the onset of blood-clotting disease.
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