Generation of chemical gradients in microfluidic devices for studying cell migration

The overall goal of this project is to probe into the mechanism of movement of leukocytes away from a chemokine. This novel response is called "fugetaxis" and is important in the migration and localization of inflammatory and immune effector cells in many disease processes such as AIDS. We used the microfluidic chamber to clearly establish fugetaxis in human neutrophils for the first time in the literature.

We also initiated detailed mechanistic studies to understand the signaling pathway in fugetaxis. To this end, we developed new microfluidic devices with integrated valves and switches to temporally control the chemokine gradient such that we can suddenly reverse the gradient and visually observe the response of neutrophils to this perturbation during fugetaxis.