A Worcester Polytechnic Institute researcher has received nearly $533,000 to provide research experiences to undergraduates examining the role sepsis can play in triggering severe blood clots.
Solomon Mensah, a researcher and assistant professor in WPI’s Department of Biomedical Engineering, was awarded $532,935 from the National Institutes of Health, according to a university announcement Tuesday.
The funding will give about 12 undergraduate students the opportunity to do coursework and research examining how sepsis-related inflammation can trigger blood clots that may block blood vessels and cause a stroke.
Sepsis is an infection that can cause widespread inflammation and dysfunction in the body. About 1.7 million people in the United States develop sepsis annually, contributing to about 265,000 deaths per year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“As a first-generation student from Africa, I benefitted academically and professionally from mentors,” Mensah said in the announcement. “Mentors guided me as I prepared for doctoral studies and shaped my path as a researcher. I want to pay these experiences forward to students by mentoring them and offering them meaningful opportunities to conduct research.”
Mensah and his students will study how sepsis damages a protective layer inside blood vessels and how that damage can help trigger blood clots. The work will also test whether that protective layer can be repaired, which could help lead to new sepsis treatments.
The funding comes from NIH’s Academic Research Enhancement Award program.
Despite cuts to funding from the President Donald Trump Administration, Central Massachusetts’ only Research 1 university has worked to keep its research momentum going. Research 1 designation requires at least $50 million in annual research spending and at least 70 research doctorates awarded each year.
Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the real estate and banking & finance industries.
