title: Spatially and temporally controlled immune cell interactions using microscale tools.
abstract: Many critical immunological responses are mediated by cell-cell interactions. Despite their capabilities, traditional techniques that rely on snapshot analysis or ensemble measurements can only provide a fragmentary picture of the complexity of these interactions. Emerging classes of new and versatile microscale tools hold great potential for enabling detailed investigation of these interactions with precise control in space and time, multiplexed measurement capability and high-throughput single-cell analysis. These features allow new ways of examining immune cell interactions that are not possible with traditional methods, improve the extent of information extracted from experiments, and reveal new findings. Here, we review recent developments in microscale tools that are paving the way for comprehensive analyses of cell-cell interactions in the immune system.
authors.affiliation: Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 50 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Microsystems Technology Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 60 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Burak
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dura
authors.affiliation: Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 50 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Microsystems Technology Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 60 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Electronic address: voldman@mit.edu.
authors.forename: Joel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Voldman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002450:Cell Communication / Q000276:immunology; D057166:High-Throughput Screening Assays / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006801:Humans; D007107:Immune System; D056747:Immunomodulation