Sanjana Dayal, PhD, and Steven Lentz, MD, PhD, received a $3.36M R01 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The grant, titled “Cellular Effects of SARS-CoV-2 in Mediating Thrombotic Susceptibility,” will allow Dayal and Lentz to investigate whether an increase in cytokines as a result of COVID-19 can activate blood cells and cells lining the blood vessels to increase blood clotting.

Previous research has found severe COVID-19 leads to inflammation, blood clotting, and multiple organ failure. Dayal and Lentz will examine the mechanisms behind blood clotting in hospitalized COVID-19 patients as well as in mouse models of COVID-19. Dayal has been studying hypercoagulation in COVID-19 since last year when she received a $50,000 COVID-19 Pilot Grant from the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust. The project began early in the pandemic when Lentz, Dayal, and Usha Perepu, MD, led a multi-center clinical trial of anticoagulation therapy in hospitalized patients with COVID-19.

“This funding has special value for me since Dr. Lentz has been my mentor during my postdoctoral training, and I am excited to work together with him on this important topic,” Dayal said. Dayal and Lentz are associate professor and professor, respectively, in the Division of Hematology, Oncology and Blood and Marrow Transplantation.