The platelet's primary physiological role is to sense damaged vessel endothelium and accumulate at the site of injury to initiate blood clotting and arrest of bleeding. Over the last 30 years, however, there has been a realization that platelets also have important roles in modulating other physiological and pathological processes. This educational session will highlight the development of platelets from megakaryocytes and how this programming may actually modify platelets to do different tasks. It will also focus on how anucleate platelets are able to control their environment via, for example, protein synthesis and the secretion/expression of novel platelet molecules. It will finish with a discussion of how platelets may be like immune cells.

Andrew Weyrich did not give consent to being recorded or making presentation available