Tiny faux organs could crack the mystery of menstruation

Kilinc, who works in the lab of biological engineer Linda Griffith at MIT, is among a small group of scientists using new tools akin to miniature organs to study a poorly understood--and frequently problematic--part of human physiology: menstruation. Heavy, sometimes debilitating periods strike at least a third of people who menstruate at some point in their lives, causing some to miss weeks of work or school every year and jeopardizing their professional standing. Anemia threatens about two-thirds of people with heavy periods. And when menstrual blood flows through the fallopian tubes and into the body cavity, it's thought to sometimes create painful lesions--characteristics of a disease called endometriosis, which can require multiple surgeries to control. No one is entirely sure how--or why--the human body choreographs this monthly dance of cellular birth, maturation, and death.