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🔴 Sickle Cell Hemoglobin Polymerization

See how deoxygenated hemoglobin S polymerizes into rigid fibers that deform red blood cells, and how oxygen tension and HbS concentration set the sickling threshold.

Medicine & Biophysics3DModerate60 FPS

The simulation shows individual hemoglobin S molecules linking into rigid polymer fibers as oxygen tension drops, and reveals the sharp concentration and oxygen thresholds above which red blood cells deform into the sickle shape.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

🎮 How to Use

Adjust the oxygen tension and HbS concentration sliders independently to find the polymerization threshold, and watch the red blood cell deform in real time in the 3D view as fibers accumulate inside it.

💡 Did You Know?

Sickle cell disease was the first illness ever traced to a specific molecular defect, when Linus Pauling showed in 1949 that sickle hemoglobin behaved differently in an electrical field, coining the term molecular disease.

⚙ Under the hood

See how deoxygenated hemoglobin S polymerizes into rigid fibers that deform red blood cells, and how oxygen tension and HbS concentration set the sickling threshold.

sickle cell diseasehemoglobinpolymerizationred blood cellsgeneticsoxygen tensionhematologymolecular biology

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install