Scientists at the Wyss Institute have created a better assay for testing blood’s clotting tendency, which could prove to be a lifesaver for patients with abnormal blood coagulation and platelet function.

As reported in today’s Nature Communications, this bioinspired advance by the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University takes a biophysical approach by subjecting blood to what it would experience inside a patient’s vascular network. It can be used with blood samples or potentially be integrated into patients’ blood-flow lines, offering clinicians the foresight they need to prevent life-threatening blood clotting or internal hemorrhaging.

Led by Donald Ingber, founding director of the Wyss, the team has developed a novel microfluidic device in which blood flows through a lifelike network of small “vessels.” It is here that it’s subjected to true-to-life shear stresses and force gradients of the human vascular network. Using automated pressure sensors and a proprietary algorithm developed by the Wyss team, data acquired from the device is analyzed in real time, precisely predicting when a certain blood sample will obstruct the blood vessel network.