Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
Perelman School of Medicine - University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, United States
John Weisel received his B.S. from Swarthmore College and his Ph.D. in Biophysics from Brandeis University. His research covers a variety of aspects of hemostasis and thrombosis, but the primary focus is on molecular and cellular mechanisms of fibrin polymerization, fibrinolysis, platelet aggregation and clot contraction, and the correlations with clinical implications including bleeding, thrombosis and embolization. Some unique structural and biophysical methodology has been developed to carry out this research, including various forms of light and electron microscopy, single molecule force spectroscopy using atomic force microscopy and optical traps, and measurements of mechanical properties of cellular and extracellular structures. All of this methodology developed or adapted in the lab has been introduced and taught to other scientists studying the biomechanics of thrombosis and hemostasis. The results of these studies have implications for basic mechanisms of protein-protein and protein-cell interactions as well as for clinical aspects of hemostasis and thrombosis.