Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 4, 2026

Study of Cell Migration in Microfabricated Channels
Published on: February 21, 2014
The development of a novel high throughput computational tool for studying individual and collective cellular
Douglas A Chapnick1, Jeremy Jacobsen1, Xuedong Liu1
11 Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America.
Abstract:
Understanding how cells migrate individually and collectively during development and cancer metastasis can be significantly aided by a computation tool to accurately measure not only cellular migration speed, but also migration direction and changes in migration direction in a temporal and spatial manner. We have developed such a tool for cell migration researchers, named Pathfinder, which is capable of simultaneously measuring the migration speed, migration direction, and changes in migration directions of thousands of cells both instantaneously and over long periods of time from fluorescence microscopy data. Additionally, we demonstrate how the Pathfinder software can be used to quantify collective cell migration. The novel capability of the Pathfinder software to measure the changes in migration direction of large populations of cells in a spatiotemporal manner will aid cellular migration research by providing a robust method for determining the mechanisms of cellular guidance during individual and collective cell migration.
Related Concept Videos
Cell Migration
Cell Migration
Cytoskeletal Coordination in Cell Migration
Chemotaxis and Direction of Cell Migration

