‘Spleen-on-a-chip’ yields insight into sickle cell disease

Every day, billions of red blood cells pass through the spleen, an organ that is responsible for filtering out old or damaged blood cells. This task is made more difficult when the blood cells are misshapen, as they are in patients with sickle cell disease, which affects millions of people throughout the world. Sickled blood cells can clog the spleen’s filters, leading to a potentially life-threatening situation.