Biophysical Society Thematic Meeting | Riga 2026

Active and Responsive Soft Matter: From Biological to Engineered Systems

Wednesday Speaker Abstracts

FROM ERYTHROCYTE-BASED CARDIOVASCULAR RISK ASSESSMENT TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF SYNTHETIC ERYTHROCYTES Catarina S Lopes 1,2 ; Ryan Gouveia e Melo 2,3 ; Luís Mendes Pedro 2,3 ; Filomena A Carvalho 1,2 ; Nuno C. Santos 1,2 ;

1 GIMM – Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine, Lisbon, Portugal 2 Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Medicina, Lisbon, Portugal 3 Hospital de Santa Maria, Lisbon, Portugal

Erythrocytes are deformable cells that undergo progressive changes affecting blood flow 1 . We have previously demonstrated the biomedical relevance of the measurement of single-molecule fibrinogen-erythrocyte receptor binding and erythrocyte-erythrocyte adhesion, using atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based force spectroscopy, at the level of clinical prognosis in heart failure 2 and essential arterial hypertension 3,4 patients. This involves the measurement of erythrocyte biomechanical properties, protein-cell interactions and cell-cell adhesion, and further combining AFM studies with the measurement of hemorheology parameters such as erythrocyte deformability, erythrocyte aggregation and blood viscosity. The adhesion between human erythrocytes was further assessed by comparing AFM-based force spectroscopy measurements with micropipette aspiration. These data were used for the development of a physical/mathematical model of the biomedical relevant interaction between erythrocytes 5 . Recently, we evaluated changes in fibrinogen-erythrocyte and erythrocyte-erythrocyte interactions in carotid artery disease (CAD) patients and characterized the biomechanical properties of atherosclerotic plaques from CAD patients. Blood collected from CAD patients, before and after endarterectomy surgery (3-year follow up) was analyzed and compared with healthy blood donors. This study, comprising hemorheological parameters, erythrocyte interactions, and cell biomechanical properties, provided clinically relevant data on post-surgery improvement of patients and the evolution of the restenosis process. In parallel, we are participating in the development of a synthetic erythrocyte aimed at overcoming limitations on blood availability for transfusions, combining the lipid membrane with a cytoskeleton of self assembled peptides or DNA origami. 1. Domingues, M.M., Carvalho, F.A., Santos, N.C., 2022, Annu. Rev. Biophys. 51:201-221. 2. Guedes, A.F., et al., 2016, Nature Nanotechnol. 11:687-692. 3. Guedes, A.F., et al., 2017, Nanoscale, 9:14897-14906. 4. Guedes, A.F., et al., 2019, Nanoscale, 11:2757-2766. 5. Lopes, C.S., et al., 2023, Commun. Biol. 6:192.

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