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

Cells carve their own steering signals by breaking down widely scattered attractants, creating local gradients that guide their own movement. This matters because cell migration is fundamental to embryonic development and immune function, yet scientists understand little about how steering cues actually form. The standard view assumes cells follow pre-existing chemical trails, but this research proposes that cells often generate those trails themselves through a process called chemotaxis up self-generated gradients (SGGs). The mechanism is hard to study because attractant breakdown and migration happen simultaneously, creating complex feedback loops. The project uses a four-pronged approach: computational models to explore possible mechanisms, microfluidic experiments with *Dictyostelium* cells, cultured T cells migrating toward the immune signal CCL19, and finally a 3D computer model of a lymph node. If successful, it will reveal how immune cells navigate lymph nodes to find pathogens and coordinate responses. This is fundamental science with no immediate practical application. However, understanding how cells steer themselves could eventually inform therapies for immune disorders, cancer metastasis, or developmental abnormalities—conditions where cell migration goes wrong. Past fundamental work on chemotaxis, for instance, led directly to drugs that modulate immune cell trafficking.