Berlin 2024 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 8: Poster Session Ia

BP 8.44: Poster

Monday, March 18, 2024, 18:00–20:30, Poster C

Cell movement on the fast lane: how patterns can drive cell migration — •Annika A. Vogler, Sebastian W. Krauss, Florian Rehfeldt, and Matthias Weiss — Experimental Physics I, University of Bayreuth, 95447 Bayreuth, Germany

Cell migration is a fundamental process that is key in many physiological events, such as wound healing, embryonic development, or cancer metastasis. In living organisms cells often have to navigate through intricate and obstructed environments. Microstructured surfaces provide a versatile platform for mimicking such environments, and they allow for studying migration dynamics under controlled conditions.

Here, we have investigated the migration of MDA-MB-231 cells on microstructured surfaces, focusing on periodic stripe patterns of varying dimensions. Our results reveal a correlation between stripe width/periodicity and cell migration speed. Moreover, cells display a unique behavior at the boundaries of the micropattern: Once they reach the edge, they tend to get stuck at these loci, akin to a migrate-to-capture dynamics that eventually leads to trapping in a confined state. Furthermore, the directionality and periodicity of the stripe pattern leads in general to an anisotropic movement, even though pattern features are roughly one magnitude smaller than cells. This finding highlights the ability of cells to sense even very small structures and to adapt their migration accordingly.

Keywords: cell migration; micropattern; anisotropy; confinement; stripes