How blood cells meet, stick and move : from aggregation to white blood cells trafficking

   I will first present how RBC clusters form and travel under flow, based on numerical simulations that incorporate interaction potentials to capture cell–cell adhesion. I will also show experimentally how the degradation of the glycocalyx —a thin, gel-like layer on the red blood cell surface— can destabilize these aggregates and reshape the flow, a feature particularly relevant in pathological conditions.

   In the second part, I will turn to monocyte (white blood cell) dynamics and discuss how vascular architecture influences their margination—the tendency of white blood cells to move toward vessel walls—and trafficking. Using biomimetic microfluidic networks inspired by venules and arterioles, we uncover hydrodynamic mechanisms that control their positioning, lateral migration, and overall behavior within confined flows.