The Role of Tissue Factor in Blood Coagulation Activation and Bleeding risk in Mice and Humans

Marisa Brake, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, MA. She earned her PhD in Biomedical Sciences from Oakland University in Michigan. Dr. Brake studies how differences in our genes can raise the risk of bleeding or blood clots. Her current project focuses on changes in a protein called tissue factor (TF), which is the first signal that helps the blood start to clot. Having low levels of TF is very rare, and it has not been well studied in many people. Dr. Brake has found a small group of people who have lower TF levels, and she is working to understand how this affects their clotting and bleeding risk. This research will help show how TF deficiency may impact bleeding risk in the wider population.