Scientists Guide Immune Cells with Light and Microparticles

Researchers from Yale University have developed a new way of directing the movement of immune cells in the body. The normal immune response is directed by chemical "trails" in the body left by foreign pathogens. Immune cells follow these "trails" in a process known as chemotaxis, or the migration of immune cells based on their chemical environment. The team of researchers have found a way to manipulate these chemical trails to direct the movements of neutrophils, which are immune cells in the blood. The team engineered microparticles that released a chemical bacterial "scent" to create an artificial chemical trail. They moved the microparticles using focused beams of light to control the release of the chemical trails. Given time, neutrophils could be seen "tracking" the microparticles by following their chemical trails.

The data gathered from this research holds insights into how cells move in response to chemical stimuli. Researchers note that their findings can help them gain understanding about how neurons spread into neural networks, how an embryo develops into a complex organism, and how cancer cells spread throughout the body. In addition, this new method of directing cell movement may also have applications in the manipulation of stem cells in tissue engineering and gene therapy.

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