Preventing A Clotting Catastrophe: The COVID Connection

Preventing A Clotting Catastrophe: The COVID Connection
Professor Jon Gibbins, Institute for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research
University of Reading Public Lecture

Our blood needs to clot quickly when we injure ourselves to keep us safe but blood clotting sometimes happens where it shouldn’t. If this is inside our veins and arteries, a process known as thrombosis occurs. While thrombosis is best known as the trigger for heart attacks and strokes, understanding unwanted clotting has become a major focus in 2020. Severe COVID-19 infection triggers clots to form in the lungs which are responsible for life-threatening impacts on lung function.

In this lecture we will explore what we have discovered about how and why clot formation occurs in this context, and how we are using this knowledge to test the effects of existing medicines that could alleviate the most serious consequences of COVID-19 infection.