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Updated: Jun 13, 2026
Use of an Optical Trap for Study of Host-Pathogen Interactions for Dynamic Live Cell Imaging
Published on: July 28, 2011
Dynamic imaging of host-pathogen interactions in vivo
Janine L Coombes1, Ellen A Robey
1Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Life Sciences Addition, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
In the past decade, advances in microscopic imaging methods, together with the development of genetically encoded fluorescent reporters, have made it possible to directly visualize the behaviour of cells in living tissues. At the same time, immunologists have been turning their attention from the traditional focus on responses to model antigens to a new focus on in vivo infection models. Recently, these two trends have intersected with exciting results. Here we discuss how dynamic imaging of in vivo infection has revealed fascinating and unexpected details of host-pathogen interactions at a new level of spatial and temporal resolution.
In the past decade, advances in microscopic imaging methods, together with the development of genetically encoded fluorescent reporters, have made it possible to directly visualize the behaviour of cells in living tissues. At the same time, immunologists have been turning their attention from the traditional focus on responses to model antigens to a new focus on in vivo infection models. Recently, these two trends have intersected with exciting results. Here we discuss how dynamic imaging of in vivo infection has revealed fascinating and unexpected details of host-pathogen interactions at a new level of spatial and temporal resolution.
