Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41477838›Full record

ArticleScience advances2026

Suspension physics govern the multiscale dynamics of blood flow in sickle cell disease.

Hannah M Szafraniec, Freya Bull, John M Higgins, Howard A Stone, Timm Krüger, Philip Pearce, David K Wood

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Science advances, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Hannah M SzafraniecDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-8525-6990
Freya BullDepartment of Mathematics, University College London, London, UK.ORCID 0000-0003-0438-215X
John M HigginsCenter for Systems Biology and Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-9182-0076
Howard A StoneDepartment of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-9670-0639
Timm KrügerSchool of Engineering, Institute for Multiscale Thermofluids, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.ORCID 0000-0003-2934-2699
Philip PearceDepartment of Mathematics, University College London, London, UK.ORCID 0000-0001-5788-3826
David K WoodDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-5225-2144

Funding

Developing a multiscale understanding of biophysical processes in sickle cell diseaseR01HL132906 · NHLBI · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · PI WOOD, DAVID KEVIN · 2017 to 2024
$4.6M
Single-cell measurement of cyclic stress on sickle blood cells by imaging-microfluidicsR01HL158102 · NHLBI · MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · PI DAO, MING, HIGGINS, JOHN MATTHEW · 2021 to 2024
$2.4M
Modeling oxygen-dependent hemoglobin polymerization in sickle cell disease at the single cell levelR01HL178560 · NHLBI · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI John Matthew Higgins, David Kevin Wood · 2025 to 2026
$1.4M
Discovery and validation of single cell biomarkers for clinical outcome in sickle cell diseaseR01HL177019 · NHLBI · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · PI David Kevin Wood · 2025 to 2026
$1.2M
Development of platform technology to measure kinetics and equilibrium concentration of sickle hemoglobin polymerization in single RBCs for drug potency assessment and patient risk stratificationR33HL173898 · NHLBI · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI John Matthew Higgins · 2025 to 2026
$951k
Dissecting the origins of fetal hemoglobin modulation of sickle cell vaso-occlusionR21HL130818 · NHLBI · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · PI WOOD, DAVID KEVIN · 2016 to 2017
$435k
A microfluidic platform to study sickle blood rheologyR56HL132906 · NHLBI · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · PI WOOD, DAVID KEVIN · 2016 to 2016
$402k
NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL132906NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL158102NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL177019NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL178560NHLBI NIH HHS R21 HL130818NHLBI NIH HHS R33 HL173898NHLBI NIH HHS R56 HL132906
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

From diabetes to malaria, altered blood flow contributes to poor clinical outcomes. Heterogeneity in red blood cell (RBC) properties within and across individuals has hindered our ability to establish the multiscale mechanisms driving pathological flow dynamics in such diseases. To address this, we develop microfluidic platforms to measure RBC properties and flow dynamics in the same blood samples from patients with sickle cell disease (SCD). We find that effective blood viscosity across individuals is explained by the proportion of stiff RBCs, exhibiting qualitative similarities to rigid-particle suspensions, despite considerable mechanical heterogeneity. By combining simulations with spatially resolved measurements of cell dynamics, we show how features of emergent rheology are governed by spatiotemporal cell organization, via margination at intermediate oxygen tensions, and localized jamming caused by spatial hematocrit variations under hypoxia. Our work defines the suspension physics underlying pathological blood flow in SCD and, more broadly, emergent rheology in heterogeneous particle suspensions.

Indexed as

Anemia, Sickle CellErythrocytesBlood Flow VelocityBlood ViscosityHematocritHemorheologyHumansMicrofluidicsRheology

Identifiers

PMID41477838
PMCPMC12757044

What Socratic holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.