Understanding Chemotaxis Towards Self-Generated Gradients Using Computational Models, Model Organisms and T cells

When immune cells find disease in the body, they take evidence to a centre of operations called a lymph node. Many different cells of the immune system need to communicate there. They therefore need an effective way of navigating to the lymph node, and finding one another after they arrive. We have shown that this navigation is an active process - cells create a pathway by changing their environment. The way they do this is complex, and almost impossible to study with simple experiments. We deal with this complexity by combining different simpler experiments - computer models let us explore a range of possible conditions; amoebas are good navigators and easy to study; and single isolated immune cells. Ultimately, we will make a functioning 3D model of a lymph node, to show exactly how different kinds of immune cell navigate around it in order to find each other.