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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 15, 2026

Creating Adhesive and Soluble Gradients for Imaging Cell Migration with Fluorescence Microscopy

Creating Adhesive and Soluble Gradients for Imaging Cell Migration with Fluorescence Microscopy

Published on: April 4, 2013

Focal adhesion size uniquely predicts cell migration.

Dong-Hwee Kim¹, Denis Wirtz

¹Johns Hopkins Physical Sciences-Oncology Center and Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA

FASEB Journal : Official Publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology

|December 21, 2012

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

The size of focal adhesions, not their number or composition, precisely predicts cell migration speed. This finding holds true across various cell types and conditions, highlighting size as a key regulator of cell motility.

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Last Updated: May 15, 2026

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Published on: June 24, 2020

Area of Science:

Cell Biology
Biophysics

Background:

Focal adhesions link the extracellular matrix to the cytoskeleton, playing a role in cell migration.
The precise role of focal adhesion clustering in regulating cell motility remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the relationship between focal adhesion characteristics and cell motility.
To determine if focal adhesion size, number, density, or composition predicts cell speed.

Main Methods:

Quantitative microscopy was used to analyze focal adhesions and cell motility in mouse embryonic fibroblasts and human fibrosarcoma cells.
Genetic manipulations of key focal adhesion proteins were performed.
The impact of matrix compliance on focal adhesions and cell speed was assessed.

Main Results:

A tight, biphasic Gaussian relationship was identified between mean focal adhesion size and cell speed.
Focal adhesion size robustly predicted cell speed, independent of their number, surface density, or molecular composition.
This predictive relationship was validated by disrupting non-focal adhesion proteins and organelles.

Conclusions:

Mean focal adhesion size is a strong and precise predictor of cell migration speed.
The size of focal adhesions, rather than their molecular composition or density, is critical for regulating cell motility.