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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Apr 18, 2026

Traction Microscopy Integrated with Microfluidics for Chemotactic Collective Migration

Traction Microscopy Integrated with Microfluidics for Chemotactic Collective Migration

Published on: October 13, 2019

Mapping forces and kinematics during collective cell migration.

Xavier Serra-Picamal¹, Vito Conte¹, Raimon Sunyer¹

¹Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain.

Methods in Cell Biology

|February 3, 2015

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Understanding collective cell migration is key for tissue repair and development. New techniques now allow precise measurement of cell forces and movements, advancing research in health and disease.

Keywords:

Collective cell migration Monolayer stress microscopy Traction force microscopy

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Last Updated: Apr 18, 2026

Traction Microscopy Integrated with Microfluidics for Chemotactic Collective Migration

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Published on: October 13, 2019

Concentric Gel System to Study the Biophysical Role of Matrix Microenvironment on 3D Cell Migration

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Published on: April 3, 2015

Integrative Toolkit to Analyze Cellular Signals: Forces, Motion, Morphology, and Fluorescence

Integrative Toolkit to Analyze Cellular Signals: Forces, Motion, Morphology, and Fluorescence

Published on: March 5, 2022

Area of Science:

Cell Biology
Biophysics
Developmental Biology

Background:

Collective cell migration is essential for fundamental biological processes like morphogenesis and tissue repair.
Epithelial and endothelial cells migrate cooperatively, relying on intercellular junctions.
Cellular movement involves forces exerted on the substrate (cell-substrate forces) and neighboring cells (cell-cell forces).

Purpose of the Study:

To describe quantitative techniques for measuring multicellular forces and kinematics.
To detail experimental protocols for these measurements.
To highlight the potential of these methods for understanding collective cell migration.

Main Methods:

Particle image velocimetry (PIV) for mapping cell velocities.
Traction force microscopy (TFM) for mapping cell-substrate forces.
Monolayer stress microscopy (MSM) for mapping intracellular and intercellular forces.

Main Results:

Recent advancements enable quantitative measurements of multicellular forces and kinematics at high resolution.
Specific techniques like PIV, TFM, and MSM allow detailed mapping of cell movement and forces.
Experimental protocols for these measurements are described.

Conclusions:

The described techniques provide unprecedented resolution for studying collective cell migration.
Combining these methods with advanced imaging and molecular perturbations will deepen our understanding of migration mechanisms.
This research is crucial for advancing knowledge in both normal biological processes and disease states.