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VBRI Investigator Hervé Falet, PhD Receives R01 Grant for Platelet Production Research

Wauwatosa, WI — August 13, 2025

Hervé Falet, investigator at the Versiti Blood Research Institute (VBRI), has been awarded an R01 grant from the National Institute of Health (NIH) to continue research into platelet production, specifically the integral relationship of platelet production and the protein PACSIN2.

“PACSIN2 plays a crucial role between membranes and the cytoskeleton,” said Falet. “The proposed research aims to deepen our understanding of the molecular mechanisms by which PACSIN2 regulates platelet production and function, and thrombus formation.”

This research could play a significant role in establishing better, more-effective treatments for patients with life-threatening blood clots and related disorders.

Platelets are cell fragments that form blood clots and stop bleeding and are produced in bone marrow megakaryocytes. Platelet production also requires the demarcation membrane system (DMS) and podosome formation, both of which involve the membrane-shaping protein PACSIN2, but there is more to learn about how PACSIN2 functions within this process.

The work of Emily Boyd, a PhD candidate in the Falet Lab, contributed to the success of the grant, notably during her time in the Chateaubriand Fellowship in France. Additional partners in this major award are the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) and The French Blood Establishment.

The $2.4 million-dollar, multiyear NIH National Health, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) grant runs from August 2025 to April 2029 and reflects the NIH’s confidence in the quality of the research being conducted at VBRI. Thanks to major investments like these, VBRI is pushing forward our understanding of medicine today in the name of better health outcomes for patients tomorrow.

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