Abigail Ajanel Gomez

Program: Immunology

Current advisor: Robert Cambell, PhD

Undergraduate university: Universidad de Adventista De las Antillas

Enrollment year: 2024

Research summary
The ability of platelets to multitask is critical to arrest bleeding after injury and for the development of arterial thrombosis, which underlies myocardial infarction and stroke. Platelet activation relies heavily on changes in cytoplasmic calcium flux.

The ability of platelets to multitask is critical to arrest bleeding after injury and for the development of arterial thrombosis, which underlies myocardial infarction and stroke. Platelet activation relies heavily on changes in cytoplasmic calcium flux. However, little is known on the role mitochondrial calcium flux directly plays in platelet activation. The mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU) has been extensively studied in cardiac tissue where calcium flux through MCU is critical for regulating bioenergetics, ROS formation, and cytoplasmic calcium levels. As these processes are important for platelet activation, these studies would indicate mitochondrial calcium flux may regulate platelet activation. However, the role of MCU in platelet function and activation is poorly understood. Therefore, currently we are examining the role of MCU on platelet mitochondrial calcium flux and platelet function and look to establish if mitochondrial calcium regulates thrombosis.

Graduate publications