article published yes Jan Schwarz author 346C1EC6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 Veronika Bierbaum author 3FD04378-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87 Jack Merrin author 4515C308-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A870000-0001-5145-4609 Tino Frank author Robert Hauschild author 4E01D6B4-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A870000-0001-9843-3522 Mark Tobias Bollenbach author 3E6DB97A-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A870000-0003-4398-476X Savaş Tay author Michael K Sixt author 41E9FBEA-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A870000-0002-6620-9179 Matthias Mehling author 3C23B994-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A870000-0001-8599-1226 MiSi department NanoFab department Bio department ToBo department Cytoskeletal force generation and force transduction of migrating leukocytes project Cytoskeletal force generation and force transduction of migrating leukocytes project Cellular locomotion is a central hallmark of eukaryotic life. It is governed by cell-extrinsic molecular factors, which can either emerge in the soluble phase or as immobilized, often adhesive ligands. To encode for direction, every cue must be present as a spatial or temporal gradient. Here, we developed a microfluidic chamber that allows measurement of cell migration in combined response to surface immobilized and soluble molecular gradients. As a proof of principle we study the response of dendritic cells to their major guidance cues, chemokines. The majority of data on chemokine gradient sensing is based on in vitro studies employing soluble gradients. Despite evidence suggesting that in vivo chemokines are often immobilized to sugar residues, limited information is available how cells respond to immobilized chemokines. We tracked migration of dendritic cells towards immobilized gradients of the chemokine CCL21 and varying superimposed soluble gradients of CCL19. Differential migratory patterns illustrate the potential of our setup to quantitatively study the competitive response to both types of gradients. Beyond chemokines our approach is broadly applicable to alternative systems of chemo- and haptotaxis such as cells migrating along gradients of adhesion receptor ligands vs. any soluble cue. https://research-explorer.ista.ac.at/download/1154/4756/IST-2017-744-v1+1_srep36440.pdf application/pdfno Nature Publishing Group2016 eng 00038711830000110.1038/srep36440 6 Schwarz, J., Bierbaum, V., Merrin, J., Frank, T., Hauschild, R., Bollenbach, M. T., … Mehling, M. (2016). A microfluidic device for measuring cell migration towards substrate bound and soluble chemokine gradients. <i>Scientific Reports</i>. Nature Publishing Group. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/srep36440">https://doi.org/10.1038/srep36440</a> J. Schwarz, V. Bierbaum, J. Merrin, T. Frank, R. Hauschild, M.T. Bollenbach, S. Tay, M.K. Sixt, M. Mehling, Scientific Reports 6 (2016). J. Schwarz <i>et al.</i>, “A microfluidic device for measuring cell migration towards substrate bound and soluble chemokine gradients,” <i>Scientific Reports</i>, vol. 6. Nature Publishing Group, 2016. Schwarz J, Bierbaum V, Merrin J, Frank T, Hauschild R, Bollenbach MT, Tay S, Sixt MK, Mehling M. 2016. A microfluidic device for measuring cell migration towards substrate bound and soluble chemokine gradients. Scientific Reports. 6, 36440. Schwarz, Jan, Veronika Bierbaum, Jack Merrin, Tino Frank, Robert Hauschild, Mark Tobias Bollenbach, Savaş Tay, Michael K Sixt, and Matthias Mehling. “A Microfluidic Device for Measuring Cell Migration towards Substrate Bound and Soluble Chemokine Gradients.” <i>Scientific Reports</i>. Nature Publishing Group, 2016. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/srep36440">https://doi.org/10.1038/srep36440</a>. Schwarz, Jan, et al. “A Microfluidic Device for Measuring Cell Migration towards Substrate Bound and Soluble Chemokine Gradients.” <i>Scientific Reports</i>, vol. 6, 36440, Nature Publishing Group, 2016, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/srep36440">10.1038/srep36440</a>. Schwarz J, Bierbaum V, Merrin J, et al. A microfluidic device for measuring cell migration towards substrate bound and soluble chemokine gradients. <i>Scientific Reports</i>. 2016;6. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/srep36440">10.1038/srep36440</a> 11542018-12-11T11:50:27Z2025-09-22T09:56:13Z