Tia Kohs is a Ph.D. Candidate in Biomedical Engineering at Oregon Health & Science University.Tia holds a BS in Biology and BA in Chemistry from Whitworth University where she also served as a research assistant and Chief Operating Officer of the students investment group among others.Tia’s team at OHSU emerged winners of the MIT COVID-19 Challenge with a pitch to develop a direct to consumer microfluidic rapid assay to test for COVID-19 immunity and an adjunct digital platform that uses the test results to identify areas that have established community immunity.
Her scientific mission is to study the interface between blood cells, plasma proteins, and shear stress in the blood micro-environment, and identify how these interactions impact physiological processes (i.e. endothelial barrier function and hemostasis) and pathological processes (i.e. thrombosis, infectious and autoimmune disease). Tia’s research is focused on elucidating the role of the contact activation pathway of coagulation in promoting thrombus formation, inflammation and endothelial cell dysfunction.