Thoracic aoritic aneurysms is an enlargement of the main blood vessel that carries blood away from the heart. Thoracic aortic aneurysms and dissections (TAADs) are responsible for significant mortality and morbidity, with estimates ranging from 30,000 to 50,000 associated deaths per year in USA alone. Sickle cell anemia (SCA) is one of the most common inherited blood diseases with more than 270,000 new patients each year; 72,000 individuals are suffering from SCA in USA.

This allocation supports research to investigate TAADs, and perform in-silico testing of new drugs using a multiscale numerical model for SCA developed by the research team. Using the numerical framework, this allocation will help researchers gain quantitative understanding of several other hematological disorders such as hereditary spherocytosis (HS) and hereditary elliptocytosis (HE), which are inherited blood diseases that result in anemia. More specifically, the project will examine in-silico, for the first time, the onset of aortic dissections and subsequent thrombus formation and growth in TAAD, as well as the intrinsic biological processes that govern SCA, HS, and HE.