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For the visual portion of my STEAM project I made sickle cells and red blood cells to show how the abnormal hemoglobin affects the shape of the red blood cell. I also made a vessel to show what happens when the sickle cell travels through the vascular system.
Chelsea completed her STEAM project on Sickle Cell Anemia. We learned about erythrocytes, anemia, sickle cell anemia, and the effects and cure of sickle cell anemia. She mentioned erythrocytes or red blood cells, and that they are responsible for the transportation of oxygen and carbon dioxide waste. The picture she created with the words, “a river tube, the donut-shaped disk with a thin wall dividing the concave center in half.” After, she mentioned anemia which is when the tissues do not receive enough oxygen from an abnormality or deficiency in red blood cells or hemoglobin. Next, she talked about sickle cell anemia, which is an abnormal hemoglobin that causes an abnormal shape of red blood cells. Hemoglobin S is responsible for the abnormal shape of erythrocytes which causes them to appear as a crescent shape. The shape prevents the cell from folding in on itself to move through narrow capillaries enviably causing a blockage in the blood flow to tissues. There are many abnormalities that occur from sickle cell anemia, some include blindness, strokes, and delayed growth. The effects of sickle cell anemia are difficulties in the transportation of red blood cells, ischemia, and infarction in bone marrow, the brain, lungs, liver, spleen, and kidney. She ended with the cure, which is human leukocyte antigen, the body’s immune system uses the proteins for self-identification, to overall find a bone marrow match. Finally, the art she made shows sickle cells and red blood cells.