Keywords

Blood Platelets; Hemic and Immune Systems; Thrombosis

Research group(s)

• Vienna Platelet Laboratories
  Head: Alice Assinger
  Research Area: Platelets and microvesicles in infection, inflammation and tissue regeneration
  Members:
  Alice Assinger
  Anita Pirabe
  Ulrike Resch
  Waltraud Schrottmaier

Research interests

We are interested in the physiological and pathophysiological roles of platelets in inflammation, infection and tissue regeneration. Platelets are circulating anucleate blood cells that have a critical function in haemostasis by facilitating the cessation of bleeding. In recent years it became increasingly apparent that platelets are not only important in haemostasis and thrombosis, but they can also fine-tune immune responses as well as tissue repair processes. Upon activation platelets release the content of their granules, which contain a plethora of downstream effector molecules that can modulate leukocyte and endothelial cell functions. These include cytokines and chemokines, coagulation factors and fibrinolytic agents, as well as regulators of angiogenesis. Our group investigates the immunomodulatory role of platelets in acute and chronic inflammation and infection, the mechanism of platelet-mediated tissue regeneration and the impact of antiplatelet therapies in this context. Moreover we focus on novel biomarker development to predict disease progression in cardiovascular and liver diseases, cancer and sepsis. 

Techniques, methods & infrastructure

• Characterisation of various leukocyte subsets and activation status (mouse and human) via flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy
• Live cell microscopy under flow conditions for recruitment and extravasation assays
• Microvesicle characterisation Isolation, characterization and cultivation of human and murine primary cells (platelets, leukocyte subsets, various endothelial cells and hepatocytes) 
• Biomarker research (collection and analysis of biorepositories) for microvesicle, microRNA and metabolite analysis
• Thrombosis and haemostasis animal models (FeCl3 and mechanic injury, tail bleeding)
• Inflammation and regeneration animal models (viral infections, lung injury, peritonitis, microRNA and antagomir treatment, partial and extended hepatectomies)
• Transgenic mice for various platelet function deficiencies
• Platelet function analysis (e.g. light transmission aggregometry)
• Standard biomolecular tools (PCR, qPCR, ELISA, Western Blot, cell culture)

Selected publications

1. Salzmann, M. et al., 2020. Genetic platelet depletion is superior in platelet transfusion compared to current models. Haematologica, 105(11), pp.2698–2698. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.3324/haematol.2020.266072.
2. Pereyra, D. et al., 2020. Routine haematological parameters in COVID-19 prognosis. The Lancet Haematology, 7(10), p.e709. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2352-3026(20)30286-6.
3. Schrottmaier, W.C. et al., 2020. Platelets mediate serological memory to neutralize viruses in vitro and in vivo. Blood Advances, 4(16), pp.3971–3976. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1182/bloodadvances.2020001786.
4. Mussbacher, M. et al., 2020. Impact of Anticoagulation and Sample Processing on the Quantification of Human Blood-Derived microRNA Signatures. Cells, 9(8), p.1915. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cells9081915.
5. Schrottmaier, W.C. et al., 2020. Platelet-leukocyte interplay during vascular disease. Atherosclerosis, 307, pp.109–120. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2020.04.018.