[{"publication":"PLOS Computational Biology","abstract":[{"lang":"eng","text":"Cell migration in vivo is often guided by chemical signaling, i.e., chemotaxis. For immune cells performing chemotaxis in the organism, this process is influenced by the complex geometry of the tissue environment. In this study, we use a theoretical model of branched cell migration on a network to explore the cellular response to chemical gradients. The model predicts the response of a branched cell to a chemical gradient: how the cell reorients its internal polarity and how it navigates through a complex environment up a chemical gradient. We then compare the model’s predictions with experimental observations of neutrophils migrating to the site of a laser-inflicted wound in a zebrafish larva fin, and neutrophils migrating in vitro inside a regular lattice of pillars. We find that the model captures the details of the subcellular response to the chemokine gradient, as well as qualitative characteristics of the large-scale migration, suggesting that the neutrophils behave as fast cells, which explains the functionality of these immune cells."}],"acknowledgement":"N.S.G. is the incumbent of the Lee and William Abramowitz Professorial Chair of Biophysics (Weizmann Institute), and acknowledges support from the Royal Society Wolfson Visiting Fellowship, and Human Frontier Science Program grant RGP0032/2022. Work by M.S., I.W., G.R. and A.G. was supported by the Leverhulme Trust (grant RPG-2021-226) and the European Research Council (ERC) under the Horizon 2020 program and UKRI, Grant agreement No.\r\nEP/Y02799X/1. M.S. and I.d.V acknowledge support by the European Research Council (grant ERC-SyG 101071793 to M.S). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and\r\nanalysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.","quality_controlled":"1","month":"02","oa":1,"_id":"21384","OA_type":"gold","project":[{"name":"Pushing from within: Control of cell shape, integrity and motility by cytoskeletal pushing forces","_id":"bd91e723-d553-11ed-ba76-fe7eeb2185fd","grant_number":"101071793"}],"type":"journal_article","publication_status":"published","fulldoi":"https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1013934","intvolume":"        22","day":"03","citation":{"ista":"Liu J, Ron JE, Rinaldi G, Williantarra I, Georgantzoglou A, de Vries I, Sixt MK, Sarris M, Gov NS. 2026. Modelling chemotaxis of branched cells in complex environments provides insights into immune cell navigation. PLOS Computational Biology. 22(2), e1013934.","short":"J. Liu, J.E. Ron, G. Rinaldi, I. Williantarra, A. Georgantzoglou, I. de Vries, M.K. Sixt, M. Sarris, N.S. Gov, PLOS Computational Biology 22 (2026).","mla":"Liu, Jiayi, et al. “Modelling Chemotaxis of Branched Cells in Complex Environments Provides Insights into Immune Cell Navigation.” <i>PLOS Computational Biology</i>, vol. 22, no. 2, e1013934, Public Library of Science, 2026, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1013934\">10.1371/journal.pcbi.1013934</a>.","chicago":"Liu, Jiayi, Jonathan E. Ron, Giulia Rinaldi, Ivanna Williantarra, Antonios Georgantzoglou, Ingrid de Vries, Michael K Sixt, Milka Sarris, and Nir S. Gov. “Modelling Chemotaxis of Branched Cells in Complex Environments Provides Insights into Immune Cell Navigation.” <i>PLOS Computational Biology</i>. Public Library of Science, 2026. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1013934\">https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1013934</a>.","ama":"Liu J, Ron JE, Rinaldi G, et al. Modelling chemotaxis of branched cells in complex environments provides insights into immune cell navigation. <i>PLOS Computational Biology</i>. 2026;22(2). doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1013934\">10.1371/journal.pcbi.1013934</a>","ieee":"J. Liu <i>et al.</i>, “Modelling chemotaxis of branched cells in complex environments provides insights into immune cell navigation,” <i>PLOS Computational Biology</i>, vol. 22, no. 2. Public Library of Science, 2026.","apa":"Liu, J., Ron, J. E., Rinaldi, G., Williantarra, I., Georgantzoglou, A., de Vries, I., … Gov, N. S. (2026). Modelling chemotaxis of branched cells in complex environments provides insights into immune cell navigation. <i>PLOS Computational Biology</i>. Public Library of Science. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1013934\">https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1013934</a>"},"publication_identifier":{"eissn":["1553-7358"]},"doi":"10.1371/journal.pcbi.1013934","scopus_import":"1","has_accepted_license":"1","file":[{"date_updated":"2026-03-02T14:11:14Z","relation":"main_file","content_type":"application/pdf","file_size":20688452,"access_level":"open_access","creator":"dernst","date_created":"2026-03-02T14:11:14Z","file_name":"2026_PloSCompBio_.pdf","checksum":"564041089e7334804ad3cade973f80b4","success":1,"file_id":"21388"}],"department":[{"_id":"MiSi"}],"article_type":"original","date_published":"2026-02-03T00:00:00Z","OA_place":"publisher","pmid":1,"date_created":"2026-03-02T10:08:38Z","publisher":"Public Library of Science","article_processing_charge":"Yes","title":"Modelling chemotaxis of branched cells in complex environments provides insights into immune cell navigation","issue":"2","tmp":{"image":"/images/cc_by.png","legal_code_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","short":"CC BY (4.0)","name":"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)"},"ddc":["570"],"oa_version":"Published Version","file_date_updated":"2026-03-02T14:11:14Z","external_id":{"pmid":["41632822"]},"article_number":"e1013934","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","PlanS_conform":"1","language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"date_updated":"2026-03-02T14:12:22Z","volume":22,"DOAJ_listed":"1","user_id":"2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","year":"2026","author":[{"first_name":"Jiayi","last_name":"Liu","full_name":"Liu, Jiayi"},{"full_name":"Ron, Jonathan E.","last_name":"Ron","first_name":"Jonathan E."},{"first_name":"Giulia","last_name":"Rinaldi","full_name":"Rinaldi, Giulia"},{"full_name":"Williantarra, Ivanna","last_name":"Williantarra","first_name":"Ivanna"},{"first_name":"Antonios","full_name":"Georgantzoglou, Antonios","last_name":"Georgantzoglou"},{"last_name":"de Vries","full_name":"de Vries, Ingrid","id":"4C7D837E-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Ingrid"},{"orcid":"0000-0002-6620-9179","full_name":"Sixt, Michael K","last_name":"Sixt","id":"41E9FBEA-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Michael K"},{"first_name":"Milka","full_name":"Sarris, Milka","last_name":"Sarris"},{"first_name":"Nir S.","last_name":"Gov","full_name":"Gov, Nir S."}],"status":"public"},{"supervisor":[{"orcid":"0000-0003-4790-8078","full_name":"Schur, Florian KM","last_name":"Schur","id":"48AD8942-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Florian KM"},{"first_name":"Michael K","id":"41E9FBEA-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","last_name":"Sixt","full_name":"Sixt, Michael K","orcid":"0000-0002-6620-9179"}],"degree_awarded":"PhD","page":"121","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/","acknowledged_ssus":[{"_id":"Bio"},{"_id":"EM-Fac"},{"_id":"ScienComp"},{"_id":"LifeSc"}],"language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"keyword":["Actin cytoskeleton","Cell migration","cryo-electron tomography"],"date_updated":"2026-09-03T09:36:24Z","user_id":"8b945eb4-e2f2-11eb-945a-df72226e66a9","year":"2026","corr_author":"1","author":[{"orcid":"0000-0003-2311-2112","first_name":"Manjunath","full_name":"Javoor, Manjunath","last_name":"Javoor","id":"305ab18b-dc7d-11ea-9b2f-b58195228ea2"}],"status":"public","related_material":{"record":[{"status":"public","relation":"part_of_dissertation","id":"12334"},{"id":"21762","status":"public","relation":"part_of_dissertation"},{"id":"19795","relation":"part_of_dissertation","status":"public"},{"status":"public","relation":"part_of_dissertation","id":"12421"}]},"OA_place":"publisher","date_created":"2026-08-21T09:11:04Z","publisher":"Institute of Science and Technology Austria ","article_processing_charge":"No","title":"Large-scale imaging of cellular actin networks at single filament resolution using montage cryo-electron tomography","ddc":["570"],"tmp":{"legal_code_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode","short":"CC BY-NC-ND (4.0)","name":"Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)","image":"/images/cc_by_nc_nd.png"},"doi_confirm":"1","oa_version":"None","OA_embargo":"12","file_date_updated":"2026-08-27T12:48:42Z","project":[{"grant_number":"101076260","_id":"bd980d18-d553-11ed-ba76-ceaa645c97eb","name":"A molecular atlas of Actin filament IDentities in the cell motility machinery"},{"grant_number":"101071793","name":"Pushing from within: Control of cell shape, integrity and motility by cytoskeletal pushing forces","_id":"bd91e723-d553-11ed-ba76-fe7eeb2185fd"}],"type":"dissertation","publication_status":"published","fulldoi":"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-22744","day":"21","alternative_title":["ISTA Thesis"],"doi":"10.15479/AT-ISTA-22744","publication_identifier":{"isbn":["978-3-99078-090-9 "],"issn":["2663-337X"]},"citation":{"chicago":"Javoor, Manjunath. “Large-Scale Imaging of Cellular Actin Networks at Single Filament Resolution Using Montage Cryo-Electron Tomography.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria , 2026. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-22744\">https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-22744</a>.","mla":"Javoor, Manjunath. <i>Large-Scale Imaging of Cellular Actin Networks at Single Filament Resolution Using Montage Cryo-Electron Tomography</i>. Institute of Science and Technology Austria , 2026, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-22744\">10.15479/AT-ISTA-22744</a>.","short":"M. Javoor, Large-Scale Imaging of Cellular Actin Networks at Single Filament Resolution Using Montage Cryo-Electron Tomography, Institute of Science and Technology Austria , 2026.","ista":"Javoor M. 2026. Large-scale imaging of cellular actin networks at single filament resolution using montage cryo-electron tomography. Institute of Science and Technology Austria .","apa":"Javoor, M. (2026). <i>Large-scale imaging of cellular actin networks at single filament resolution using montage cryo-electron tomography</i>. Institute of Science and Technology Austria . <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-22744\">https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-22744</a>","ieee":"M. Javoor, “Large-scale imaging of cellular actin networks at single filament resolution using montage cryo-electron tomography,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria , 2026.","ama":"Javoor M. Large-scale imaging of cellular actin networks at single filament resolution using montage cryo-electron tomography. 2026. doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-22744\">10.15479/AT-ISTA-22744</a>"},"file":[{"checksum":"f9c2847df9f1ac5a3d60c06b3b81a450","file_name":"2026_Javoor_Manjunath_Thesis.docx","file_id":"22767","file_size":27430796,"content_type":"application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document","date_updated":"2026-08-27T12:48:42Z","relation":"source_file","creator":"mjavoor","access_level":"closed","date_created":"2026-08-26T12:02:47Z"},{"date_created":"2026-08-26T12:02:46Z","creator":"mjavoor","access_level":"closed","relation":"main_file","date_updated":"2026-08-26T12:02:46Z","file_size":19489230,"content_type":"application/pdf","embargo":"2027-08-21","file_id":"22768","file_name":"2026_Javoor_Manjunath_Thesis.pdf","embargo_to":"open_access","checksum":"8e9b4c0fcafbccf5c3796eacc9134a08"}],"has_accepted_license":"1","department":[{"_id":"GradSch"},{"_id":"FlSc"},{"_id":"MiSi"}],"date_published":"2026-08-21T00:00:00Z","acknowledgement":"This work was supported by the ERC StG grant ActinID (PRA01221F1049A) awarded to Florian\r\nSchur, the ERC-SyG grant Pushing from within (P01071793) awarded to Michael Sixt, and by ISTA.\r\nI would like to thank the Scientific Service Units at ISTA for their essential support throughout\r\nthis work. In particular, I am grateful to the Electron Microscopy Facility, Imaging and Optics\r\nFacility, Zebrafish Facility, Scientific Computing Facility, and Lab Support Facility for their services,\r\nand technical support, all of which were important for the successful completion of this project.","month":"08","_id":"22744"},{"citation":{"apa":"Dunajova, Z., Tasciyan, S., Majek, J., Merrin, J., Jenkins, R. P., Sahai, E., … Hannezo, E. B. (2026). Substrate heterogeneity promotes cancer cell dissemination through interface roughening. <i>Science Advances</i>. AAAS. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aed0587\">https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aed0587</a>","ieee":"Z. Dunajova <i>et al.</i>, “Substrate heterogeneity promotes cancer cell dissemination through interface roughening,” <i>Science Advances</i>, vol. 12, no. 37. AAAS, 2026.","ama":"Dunajova Z, Tasciyan S, Majek J, et al. Substrate heterogeneity promotes cancer cell dissemination through interface roughening. <i>Science Advances</i>. 2026;12(37). doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aed0587\">10.1126/sciadv.aed0587</a>","mla":"Dunajova, Zuzana, et al. “Substrate Heterogeneity Promotes Cancer Cell Dissemination through Interface Roughening.” <i>Science Advances</i>, vol. 12, no. 37, eaed0587, AAAS, 2026, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aed0587\">10.1126/sciadv.aed0587</a>.","chicago":"Dunajova, Zuzana, Saren Tasciyan, Juraj Majek, Jack Merrin, Robert P. Jenkins, Erik Sahai, Michael K Sixt, and Edouard B Hannezo. “Substrate Heterogeneity Promotes Cancer Cell Dissemination through Interface Roughening.” <i>Science Advances</i>. AAAS, 2026. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aed0587\">https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aed0587</a>.","ista":"Dunajova Z, Tasciyan S, Majek J, Merrin J, Jenkins RP, Sahai E, Sixt MK, Hannezo EB. 2026. Substrate heterogeneity promotes cancer cell dissemination through interface roughening. Science Advances. 12(37), eaed0587.","short":"Z. Dunajova, S. Tasciyan, J. Majek, J. Merrin, R.P. Jenkins, E. Sahai, M.K. Sixt, E.B. Hannezo, Science Advances 12 (2026)."},"publication_identifier":{"eissn":["2375-2548"]},"doi":"10.1126/sciadv.aed0587","has_accepted_license":"1","file":[{"file_name":"2026_ScienceAdv_Dunajova.pdf","checksum":"79f419b659650a39b3dfa58c782690a8","success":1,"file_id":"23062","relation":"main_file","date_updated":"2026-10-06T11:30:48Z","content_type":"application/pdf","file_size":11691064,"date_created":"2026-10-06T11:30:48Z","creator":"dernst","access_level":"open_access"}],"scopus_import":"1","department":[{"_id":"EdHa"},{"_id":"MiSi"},{"_id":"GradSch"},{"_id":"AnSa"},{"_id":"NanoFab"}],"date_published":"2026-09-09T00:00:00Z","article_type":"original","project":[{"_id":"34d75525-11ca-11ed-8bc3-89b6307fee9d","name":"Motile active matter models of migrating cells and chiral filaments","grant_number":"26360"},{"grant_number":"101071793","_id":"bd91e723-d553-11ed-ba76-fe7eeb2185fd","name":"Pushing from within: Control of cell shape, integrity and motility by cytoskeletal pushing forces"}],"dataavailabilitystatement":" All data and code needed to evaluate and reproduce the results in the paper are present in the paper and/or the Supplementary Materials and the associated data and code repositories. Source data underlying all figures and supplementary figures have been deposited in a Zenodo repository (DOi: 10.5281/zenodo.21718217) and will be made publicly available upon publication. custom simulation and analysis codes used in this study are available at https://codeocean.com/capsule/1237446/tree. no unique biological materials were generated in this study. Microfluidic mask designs generated for this work are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.","publication_status":"published","fulldoi":"https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aed0587","type":"journal_article","day":"09","intvolume":"        12","oa":1,"month":"09","_id":"22963","OA_type":"gold","researchdata_availability":"yes","publication":"Science Advances","abstract":[{"lang":"eng","text":"Although studies of tumor invasion have mainly emphasized the evolution of genetic and epigenetic heterogeneity, cellular behaviors also depend on the physical microenvironment. Yet, the tumor microenvironment is both complex and continuously remodeled, making it hard to rigorously test its causal influence on tumor dissemination. Here, we adopted a reductionist approach to studying tumor cell invasion in microengineered environments of tunable patterned geometries. We find that not only the presence of obstacles but more unexpectedly their spatial disorder causes a drastic shift from a collective to a single-cell mode of invasion—comparable in strength to loss of cell-cell adhesion. Combining live-imaging and perturbation experiments with minimal biophysical modeling, we demonstrate that cell dissemination results both from local geometrical constraints and a global integration of spatial disorder over time. We identify generic universality classes of invasion dynamics dependent on environmental geometry, enabling us to identify quantitative physical principles for tumor dissemination."}],"acknowledgement":"We thank all the members of the Hannezo and Sixt groups for fruitful discussions and t. Kato for advice on the experimental setup. We are also thankful for support from the Scientific Service Units (SSU) of IST Austria through resources provided by the imaging and Optics Facility (iOF) and the Lab Support Facility (lSF). We used chatGPt (GPt- 5,OpenAi, 2025) to make minor grammatical and stylistic revisions to the original manuscript, which was written by us. We carefully reviewed and verified all changes and are solely responsible for all scientific content, data, interpretation, and conclusions. Funding: Z.D. has received funding from the Doctoral Programme of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW):grant agreement 26360. this work was supported by the European Research council (grant ERC- SyG 101071793 to M.S.). E.S. and R.P.J. are supported by the Francis Crick Institute, which receives its core funding from cancer Research UK (cc2040), the UK Medical Research council(cc2040), and the Wellcome trust (cc2040) and the European Research council (ERC Advanced Grant cAn_ORGAniSe, grant agreement number 101019366).","quality_controlled":"1","volume":12,"DOAJ_listed":"1","supplementarymaterial":"no","year":"2026","user_id":"2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","status":"public","corr_author":"1","author":[{"first_name":"Zuzana","id":"4B39F286-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","full_name":"Dunajova, Zuzana","last_name":"Dunajova"},{"orcid":"0000-0003-1671-393X","full_name":"Tasciyan, Saren","last_name":"Tasciyan","id":"4323B49C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Saren"},{"last_name":"Majek","full_name":"Majek, Juraj","id":"3e6d9473-f38e-11ec-8ae0-c4e05a8aa9e1","first_name":"Juraj"},{"orcid":"0000-0001-5145-4609","first_name":"Jack","full_name":"Merrin, Jack","last_name":"Merrin","id":"4515C308-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87"},{"first_name":"Robert P.","last_name":"Jenkins","full_name":"Jenkins, Robert P."},{"first_name":"Erik","full_name":"Sahai, Erik","last_name":"Sahai"},{"last_name":"Sixt","full_name":"Sixt, Michael K","id":"41E9FBEA-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Michael K","orcid":"0000-0002-6620-9179"},{"first_name":"Edouard B","id":"3A9DB764-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","last_name":"Hannezo","full_name":"Hannezo, Edouard B","orcid":"0000-0001-6005-1561"}],"article_number":"eaed0587","das_tickbox":"1","language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"acknowledged_ssus":[{"_id":"Bio"},{"_id":"LifeSc"}],"PlanS_conform":"1","date_updated":"2026-10-06T11:36:34Z","tmp":{"image":"/images/cc_by.png","legal_code_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","short":"CC BY (4.0)","name":"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)"},"ddc":["570"],"oa_version":"Published Version","issue":"37","file_date_updated":"2026-10-06T11:30:48Z","external_id":{"pmid":["42715298"]},"date_created":"2026-09-20T22:01:48Z","OA_place":"publisher","related_material":{"record":[{"status":"public","relation":"earlier_version","id":"21427"}]},"pmid":1,"publisher":"AAAS","article_processing_charge":"Yes","title":"Substrate heterogeneity promotes cancer cell dissemination through interface roughening"},{"OA_type":"hybrid","oa":1,"month":"08","_id":"20082","acknowledgement":"This research was supported by the Scientific Service Units of ISTA through resources provided by the Imaging and Optics, Preclinical and Lab Support Facilities. In particular, we thank M. A. Symth and F. G. G. Leite, from the Virus Service Team, who helped generating the lentiviral particles used in this study. We thank all the members of the Sixt group for valuable discussions and feedback, in particular, I. Mayer, for helping with T cell isolation and Z. (P.) Li for providing the Actin–GFP DC line. We are also thankful to J. Mandl and C. Shen for their feedback during the writing of this manuscript. This work was supported by a European Research Council grant ERC-SyG 101071793 to M.S. M.J.A. was supported by an HFSP Postdoctoral Fellowship LTF 177 2021 and A.J.G. by a Lise Meitner Fellowship of the FWF (Austrian Science Fund). Y.F. was supported by the AMED-CREST (JP19gm1310005), the Medical Research Center Initiative for High Depth Omics and CURE:JPMXP1323015486 for MIB, Kyushu University. Open access funding provided by Institute of Science and Technology (IST Austria).","quality_controlled":"1","publication":"Nature Immunology","abstract":[{"text":"Efficient immune responses rely on the capacity of leukocytes to traverse diverse and complex tissues. To meet such changing environmental conditions, leukocytes usually adopt an ameboid configuration, using their forward-positioned nucleus as a probe to identify and follow the path of least resistance among pre-existing pores. We show that, in dense environments where even the largest pores preclude free passage, leukocytes position their nucleus behind the centrosome and organelles. The local compression imposed on the cell body by its surroundings triggers assembly of a central F-actin pool, located between cell front and nucleus. Central actin pushes outward to transiently dilate a path for organelles and nucleus. Pools of central and front actin are tightly coupled and experimental depletion of the central pool enhances actin accumulation and protrusion formation at the cell front. Although this shifted balance speeds up cells in permissive environments, migration in restrictive environments is impaired, as the unleashed leading edge dissociates from the trapped cell body. Our findings establish an actin regulatory loop that balances path dilation with advancement of the leading edge to maintain cellular coherence.","lang":"eng"}],"department":[{"_id":"MiSi"},{"_id":"NanoFab"},{"_id":"Bio"}],"date_published":"2025-08-01T00:00:00Z","article_type":"letter_note","doi":"10.1038/s41590-025-02211-w","citation":{"ista":"Dos Reis Rodrigues P, Avellaneda Sarrió M, Canigova N, Gärtner FR, Vaahtomeri K, Riedl M, de Vries I, Merrin J, Hauschild R, Fukui Y, Juanes Garcia A, Sixt MK. 2025. Migrating immune cells globally coordinate protrusive forces. Nature Immunology. 26, 1258–1266.","short":"P. Dos Reis Rodrigues, M. Avellaneda Sarrió, N. Canigova, F.R. Gärtner, K. Vaahtomeri, M. Riedl, I. de Vries, J. Merrin, R. Hauschild, Y. Fukui, A. Juanes Garcia, M.K. Sixt, Nature Immunology 26 (2025) 1258–1266.","chicago":"Dos Reis Rodrigues, Patricia, Mario Avellaneda Sarrió, Nikola Canigova, Florian R Gärtner, Kari Vaahtomeri, Michael Riedl, Ingrid de Vries, et al. “Migrating Immune Cells Globally Coordinate Protrusive Forces.” <i>Nature Immunology</i>. Springer Nature, 2025. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-025-02211-w\">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-025-02211-w</a>.","mla":"Dos Reis Rodrigues, Patricia, et al. “Migrating Immune Cells Globally Coordinate Protrusive Forces.” <i>Nature Immunology</i>, vol. 26, Springer Nature, 2025, pp. 1258–1266, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-025-02211-w\">10.1038/s41590-025-02211-w</a>.","ama":"Dos Reis Rodrigues P, Avellaneda Sarrió M, Canigova N, et al. Migrating immune cells globally coordinate protrusive forces. <i>Nature Immunology</i>. 2025;26:1258–1266. doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-025-02211-w\">10.1038/s41590-025-02211-w</a>","ieee":"P. Dos Reis Rodrigues <i>et al.</i>, “Migrating immune cells globally coordinate protrusive forces,” <i>Nature Immunology</i>, vol. 26. Springer Nature, pp. 1258–1266, 2025.","apa":"Dos Reis Rodrigues, P., Avellaneda Sarrió, M., Canigova, N., Gärtner, F. R., Vaahtomeri, K., Riedl, M., … Sixt, M. K. (2025). Migrating immune cells globally coordinate protrusive forces. <i>Nature Immunology</i>. Springer Nature. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-025-02211-w\">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-025-02211-w</a>"},"publication_identifier":{"eissn":["1529-2916"],"issn":["1529-2908"]},"file":[{"checksum":"0c725123dca7797c682609bff2c4c5ac","file_name":"2025_NatureImmunology_ReisRodrigues.pdf","file_id":"20096","success":1,"file_size":13514646,"content_type":"application/pdf","date_updated":"2025-07-31T08:00:33Z","relation":"main_file","creator":"dernst","access_level":"open_access","date_created":"2025-07-31T08:00:33Z"}],"has_accepted_license":"1","scopus_import":"1","fulldoi":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-025-02211-w","publication_status":"published","type":"journal_article","day":"01","intvolume":"        26","project":[{"name":"Pushing from within: Control of cell shape, integrity and motility by cytoskeletal pushing forces","_id":"bd91e723-d553-11ed-ba76-fe7eeb2185fd","grant_number":"101071793"},{"name":"Bioelectric patrolling: the role of the local membrane potential in 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K","last_name":"Sixt","orcid":"0000-0002-6620-9179"}],"volume":26,"isi":1,"acknowledged_ssus":[{"_id":"Bio"},{"_id":"LifeSc"}],"language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"PlanS_conform":"1","date_updated":"2026-04-28T13:26:50Z","page":"1258–1266"},{"language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"acknowledged_ssus":[{"_id":"Bio"},{"_id":"LifeSc"},{"_id":"M-Shop"},{"_id":"NanoFab"}],"date_updated":"2026-04-28T13:26:50Z","supervisor":[{"first_name":"Michael K","last_name":"Sixt","full_name":"Sixt, Michael K","id":"41E9FBEA-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","orcid":"0000-0002-6620-9179"}],"page":"114","degree_awarded":"PhD","year":"2025","user_id":"ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd","status":"public","author":[{"orcid":"0000-0003-1681-508X","last_name":"Dos Reis Rodrigues","full_name":"Dos Reis Rodrigues, Patricia","id":"26E95904-5160-11E9-9C0B-C5B0DC97E90F","first_name":"Patricia"}],"corr_author":"1","article_processing_charge":"No","title":"Coordination of protrusive forces in immune cell migration ","date_created":"2025-08-08T09:18:02Z","related_material":{"record":[{"relation":"part_of_dissertation","status":"public","id":"10703"},{"id":"20082","relation":"part_of_dissertation","status":"public"}]},"OA_place":"publisher","publisher":"Institute of Science and Technology Austria","oa_version":"Published Version","tmp":{"legal_code_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode","short":"CC BY-NC-ND (4.0)","name":"Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)","image":"/images/cc_by_nc_nd.png"},"ddc":["570"],"file_date_updated":"2025-08-27T13:02:28Z","fulldoi":"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20149","publication_status":"published","type":"dissertation","day":"08","project":[{"grant_number":"101071793","name":"Pushing from within: Control of cell shape, integrity and motility by cytoskeletal pushing forces","_id":"bd91e723-d553-11ed-ba76-fe7eeb2185fd"}],"department":[{"_id":"GradSch"},{"_id":"MiSi"}],"date_published":"2025-08-08T00:00:00Z","alternative_title":["ISTA Thesis"],"publication_identifier":{"issn":["2663-337X"]},"doi":"10.15479/AT-ISTA-20149","citation":{"mla":"Dos Reis Rodrigues, Patricia. <i>Coordination of Protrusive Forces in Immune Cell Migration </i>. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20149\">10.15479/AT-ISTA-20149</a>.","chicago":"Dos Reis Rodrigues, Patricia. “Coordination of Protrusive Forces in Immune Cell Migration .” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20149\">https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20149</a>.","ista":"Dos Reis Rodrigues P. 2025. Coordination of protrusive forces in immune cell migration . Institute of Science and Technology Austria.","short":"P. Dos Reis Rodrigues, Coordination of Protrusive Forces in Immune Cell Migration , Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025.","apa":"Dos Reis Rodrigues, P. (2025). <i>Coordination of protrusive forces in immune cell migration </i>. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20149\">https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20149</a>","ieee":"P. Dos Reis Rodrigues, “Coordination of protrusive forces in immune cell migration ,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025.","ama":"Dos Reis Rodrigues P. Coordination of protrusive forces in immune cell migration . 2025. doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20149\">10.15479/AT-ISTA-20149</a>"},"has_accepted_license":"1","file":[{"relation":"main_file","date_updated":"2025-08-27T12:59:10Z","content_type":"application/pdf","file_size":63885565,"date_created":"2025-08-27T12:59:10Z","creator":"prodrigu","access_level":"open_access","file_name":"2025_ReisRodrigues_Patricia_Thesis.pdf","checksum":"fda8a1070667c3562263f4867609b41b","success":1,"file_id":"20232"},{"file_size":50483434,"content_type":"application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document","relation":"source_file","date_updated":"2025-08-27T13:02:28Z","date_created":"2025-08-27T13:00:30Z","access_level":"closed","creator":"prodrigu","checksum":"e8b65affcbce846a926454df4b2867b9","file_name":"2025_ReisRodrigues_Patricia_Thesis.docx","file_id":"20233"}],"acknowledgement":"I would like to acknowledge the\r\nfinancial support of the European Research Council through the ERC-SyG grant “Pushing from\r\nwithin: Control of cell shape, integrity and motility by cytoskeletal pushing forces”\r\n(01071793), which made this research possible. ","abstract":[{"lang":"eng","text":"Immune responses depend on the coordinated and efficient migration of leukocytes. These\r\ncells, which are embedded and tightly confined within tissues, must navigate and traverse\r\ndiverse and complex three-dimensional environments. Leukocytes adapt their locomotory\r\nbehavior to the mechanical, geometrical, and biochemical characteristics of their\r\nsurroundings. In low-density environments, where the pore size of the interstitial matrix\r\nallows free passage, these cells position the nucleus directly behind the lamellipodium, the\r\nprotrusive actin structure that forms the leading front of the cell. In this configuration, they\r\nuse the nucleus as a gauge to identify the path of least resistance.\r\nHere, we show that in high-density environments, where the pore size precludes free passage\r\nof the cell body, leukocytes reposition the microtubule-organizing center (MTOC) and\r\nassociated organelles in front of the nucleus. In this configuration, they use actin structures\r\nprotruding orthogonally to the direction of migration in order to open a path for the cell body.\r\nWe identify two distinct actin populations that serve this purpose at different subcellular\r\nlocalizations. At the leading edge, local indentation of the plasma membrane leads to\r\nrecruitment of the Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (WASp), which, via Arp2/3, results in\r\nthe formation of individual actin foci. At the cell body, actin polymerization is triggered by\r\nDOCK8, a Cdc42 exchange factor, resulting in the formation of a central actin pool.\r\nWe demonstrate that the central and peripheral actin pools are functionally communicating\r\nand that depletion of the central actin pool leads to increased actin accumulation at the cell\r\nfront, resulting in excessive extension of the leading edge."}],"oa":1,"month":"08","_id":"20149"},{"doi":"10.1101/2025.05.20.655037","citation":{"mla":"Dunajova, Zuzana, et al. “Substrate Heterogeneity Promotes Cancer Cell Dissemination through Interface Roughening.” <i>BioRxiv</i>, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.05.20.655037\">10.1101/2025.05.20.655037</a>.","chicago":"Dunajova, Zuzana, Saren Tasciyan, Juraj Majek, Jack Merrin, Erik Sahai, Michael K Sixt, and Edouard B Hannezo. “Substrate Heterogeneity Promotes Cancer Cell Dissemination through Interface Roughening.” <i>BioRxiv</i>, n.d. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.05.20.655037\">https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.05.20.655037</a>.","short":"Z. Dunajova, S. Tasciyan, J. Majek, J. Merrin, E. Sahai, M.K. Sixt, E.B. Hannezo, BioRxiv (n.d.).","ista":"Dunajova Z, Tasciyan S, Majek J, Merrin J, Sahai E, Sixt MK, Hannezo EB. Substrate heterogeneity promotes cancer cell dissemination through interface roughening. bioRxiv, <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.05.20.655037\">10.1101/2025.05.20.655037</a>.","ieee":"Z. Dunajova <i>et al.</i>, “Substrate heterogeneity promotes cancer cell dissemination through interface roughening,” <i>bioRxiv</i>. .","apa":"Dunajova, Z., Tasciyan, S., Majek, J., Merrin, J., Sahai, E., Sixt, M. K., &#38; Hannezo, E. B. (n.d.). Substrate heterogeneity promotes cancer cell dissemination through interface roughening. <i>bioRxiv</i>. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.05.20.655037\">https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.05.20.655037</a>","ama":"Dunajova Z, Tasciyan S, Majek J, et al. Substrate heterogeneity promotes cancer cell dissemination through interface roughening. <i>bioRxiv</i>. doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.05.20.655037\">10.1101/2025.05.20.655037</a>"},"has_accepted_license":"1","department":[{"_id":"GradSch"},{"_id":"EdHa"},{"_id":"MiSi"},{"_id":"NanoFab"},{"_id":"AnSa"}],"date_published":"2025-09-25T00:00:00Z","project":[{"grant_number":"101071793","_id":"bd91e723-d553-11ed-ba76-fe7eeb2185fd","name":"Pushing from within: Control of cell shape, integrity and motility by cytoskeletal pushing forces"},{"grant_number":"26360","name":"Motile active matter models of migrating cells and chiral filaments","_id":"34d75525-11ca-11ed-8bc3-89b6307fee9d"}],"type":"preprint","publication_status":"draft","fulldoi":"https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.05.20.655037","day":"25","month":"09","oa":1,"_id":"21427","publication":"bioRxiv","abstract":[{"lang":"eng","text":"While tumor malignancy has been extensively studied under the prism of genetic and epigenetic heterogeneity, tumor cell states also critically depend on reciprocal interactions with the microenvironment. This raises the hitherto untested possibility that heterogeneity of the untransformed tumor stroma can actively fuel malignant progression. As biological heterogeneity is inherently difficult to control, we adopted a reductionist approach and let tumor cells invade micro-engineered environments harboring obstacles with precision-controlled geometry. We find that not only the presence of obstacles, but more surprisingly their spatial disorder, causes a drastic shift from a collective to a single-cell mode of invasion – comparable in strength to cadherin loss. Combining live-imaging and perturbation experiments with minimal biophysical modeling, we demonstrate that cell detachments result both from local geometrical constraints and a global integration of spatial disorder over time. We show that different types of microenvironments map onto different universality classes of invasion dynamics - homogeneous substrates follow Kardar–Parisi–Zhang (KPZ) scaling, while disordered ones exhibit exponents consistent with KPZ with quenched disorder (KPZq). Our findings highlight generic physical principles for how the mode of cancer cell invasion depends on environmental heterogeneity, with potential implications to understand tumor evolution in vivo."}],"acknowledgement":"European Research Council, https://ror.org/0472cxd90, 101071793\r\nAustrian Academy of Sciences, 26360","user_id":"2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","year":"2025","corr_author":"1","author":[{"first_name":"Zuzana","full_name":"Dunajova, Zuzana","last_name":"Dunajova","id":"4B39F286-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87"},{"orcid":"0000-0003-1671-393X","id":"4323B49C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","last_name":"Tasciyan","full_name":"Tasciyan, Saren","first_name":"Saren"},{"first_name":"Juraj","last_name":"Majek","full_name":"Majek, Juraj","id":"3e6d9473-f38e-11ec-8ae0-c4e05a8aa9e1"},{"orcid":"0000-0001-5145-4609","first_name":"Jack","full_name":"Merrin, Jack","last_name":"Merrin","id":"4515C308-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87"},{"first_name":"Erik","last_name":"Sahai","full_name":"Sahai, Erik"},{"orcid":"0000-0002-6620-9179","first_name":"Michael K","id":"41E9FBEA-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","last_name":"Sixt","full_name":"Sixt, Michael K"},{"id":"3A9DB764-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","last_name":"Hannezo","full_name":"Hannezo, Edouard B","first_name":"Edouard B","orcid":"0000-0001-6005-1561"}],"status":"public","main_file_link":[{"open_access":"1","url":"https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.05.20.655037"}],"das_tickbox":"1","language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"date_updated":"2026-10-12T22:30:17Z","tmp":{"legal_code_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode","short":"CC BY-NC-ND (4.0)","name":"Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)","image":"/images/cc_by_nc_nd.png"},"oa_version":"Preprint","ddc":["539","570"],"related_material":{"record":[{"id":"21439","relation":"research_data","status":"public"},{"status":"public","relation":"later_version","id":"22963"},{"id":"21423","status":"public","relation":"dissertation_contains"}]},"OA_place":"repository","date_created":"2026-03-11T08:40:06Z","article_processing_charge":"No","title":"Substrate heterogeneity promotes cancer cell dissemination through interface roughening"}]