ERC Starting Grant for new PI Kami Alexander Pekayvaz

Can the immune system dissolve the very clots it helps create? Dr. Kami Alexander Pekayvaz, clinician-scientist and research group leader at the Department of Medicine I at LMU University Hospital Munich, has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant to pursue exactly this question.

Thrombosis remains a leading cause of death and disability worldwide, and inflammation is a central driver: in thromboinflammation, proinflammatory neutrophils and the coagulation system amplify each other until vessels occlude. But Pekayvaz discovered a surprising second role for these cells, they can also infiltrate existing thrombi and actively promote their resolution.

In his project I-CLEAR (Immunothrombolysis: deCoding neutrophiL Engagement in Active thrombus Resolution), he will investigate how neutrophils switch from driving thromboinflammation to this "immunothrombolysis", and identify the biological switches behind it. "This could open up new paths to reduce bleeding risks through targeted activation of the body's own thrombus resolution mechanisms," says Pekayvaz.

Kami Pekayvaz is also a new principal investigator in our second funding period, we are delighted and very proud. Congratulations!