CAREER: Functional Chemical Models of Complex Biochemical Networks

University Of Chicago, Chicago IL

Investigators

Abstract

Professor Rustem Ismagilov of the University of Chicago is supported by the Analytical and Surface Chemistry program to model a complex biochemical reaction network using chemical reactions in a microfluidic device. The biochemical system to be studied is hemostasis -the series of eighty or so reactions of soluble proteins, surface-bound proteins and platelets in the body leading to blood clotting. Three modules corresponding to initiation, inhibition and precipitation will be constructed and linked to each other. The reactions will be maintained away from equilibrium using continuous flow inside the microfluidic device. Quantitative experimental and theoretical methods will be used to analyze the ability of the system to repair itself as a function of the shear rate of flow, the size of the damaged patch, the details of fluid flow and geometry of microfluidic channels. The methods will be useful for generating and testing hypotheses describing the function of hemostasis and evolution of circulatory systems. The PI is involved in making demonstration kits that explain the value of chemistry, complexity and microfluidics available to the public through work with the Museum of Science and Technology in Chicago. Functional biochemical reaction networks are complex and difficult to understand because properties of the system arise from the interactions of individual reactions. Models must include effects such as nonlinear reaction dynamics, compartmentalization, diffusion and flow. Recent advances in microfluidics, in which chemical reactions are run in narrow capillaries on a chip, permit the detailed investigative modeling of these complex systems.