What is the issue for NSW?
Heart attack and stroke is responsible for about one in four of all deaths each year in NSW, and often for unknown reasons.
What does the research aim to do and how?
The research has discovered an entirely novel aspect of how blood clots form. This finding may be a significant cause as to why some individuals have increased tendency to form blood clots and why they are often resistant to anti-clotting drugs. This program of research will investigate these questions in patients with heart disease and diabetes. Cardiovascular diseases are strongly associated with blood clot formation, so a better understanding of why blood clots form and why patients can be resistant to anti-clotting drugs will enable personalised anti-clotting therapy and development of more effective anti-clotting drugs.