In 1947, Paul Owren's work on factor V was published internationally after wartime delays. Factor V became recognised as a key coagulation factor involved in thrombin generation. Understanding factor V later proved essential to explaining inherited clotting disorders such as Factor V Leiden.

The naming of clotting factors gave hidden blood chemistry a cast of characters. This scientific alphabet of factors adds depth to modern writing about heredity, fate and the unseen scripts inside the body, influencing poets like Anne Carson who explore themes of identity and the human condition.