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Department of Biochemistry

Administrative and personal data on the department.

Department of Biochemistry studies the structure and functions of blood platelets and blood proteins which play a role in hemostasis or thrombosis. The main field of the research is the study of the complex system of interconnected reactions that lead to formation of the haemostatic plug or thrombus.

Olfactoric glies connected by their dendrits growing inside a fibrin network. Taken by a fluorescence microscope.

Transmission electron-optic snapshot of a fibrin network iniciated by thrombin bound on the surface-immobilized fibrinogen.

To work out specific methods for influencing and regulating hemostasis is the main objective of the research. In the study of the mechanism of thrombus formation, use is made of specificenzymesisolated from certain snake venoms, of synthetic peptide libraries, modern optical and separation methods, as well as computerized search for and construction of peptides interactive with fibrinogen and blood-platelet proteins. Methods are being developed for testing thrombogenicity of new artificial materials and for evaluation of their suitability to serve as different kinds of prostheses that would come in contact with blood. Some proteolytic enzymes, which are already successfully used in diagnosis and are of potential therapeutic value, have been discovered and isolated.