title: Infection and immunity on a chip: a compartmentalised microfluidic platform to monitor immune cell behaviour in real time.
abstract: Cells respond to their environments and self-organise into multicellular assemblies with dedicated functions. The migratory and homing response of cells to soluble ligands can be studied by using different techniques, but for real time studies of complex multicellular self-organisation, novel and simpler systems are required. We fabricated a flexible open access microsystem and tested the design by studying cell recruitment from an immune cell reservoir towards an infectious compartment. The two compartments were connected by a network of bifurcated microchannels allowing diffusion of signalling molecules and migration of cells. Bacterial filters were incorporated in the design to prevent bacteria and activated cells from entering the network, permitting migration only from the recruitment reservoir. The fabricated microsystem allows real-time continuous monitoring of cellular decision-making based on biologically produced gradients of cytokines and chemokines. It is a valuable tool for studying cellular migration and self-organisation in relation to infections, autoimmunity, cancer, stem cell homing, and tissue and wound repair.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7489 Trondheim, Norway. oyvind.halaas@ntnu.no.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gopalakrishnan
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hannam
authors.forename: G P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Casoni
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Barriet
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Ribe
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Haug
authors.forename: Ø
authors.initials: Ø
authors.lastname: Halaas
mesh_terms: D002460:Cell Line; D002465:Cell Movement; D002633:Chemotaxis; D018920:Coculture Techniques; D004058:Diffusion; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D009162:Mycobacterium avium / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000276:immunology*