Microscope-based techniques to study cell adhesion and migration
Partha Roy1, Zenon Rajfur1, Pawel Pomorski1
& Ken Jacobson1, 2
1
Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7090 USA
2
Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7090 USA
frap@med.unc.edu
Modern light microscopy has evolved to provide a variety of quantitative imaging techniques and also the capability to perturb structure−function relationships in living cells. These advances have been especially useful in the study of cell adhesion and migration. This review will focus on how such microscopy-based techniques can be used in situ to study molecular interactions and dynamics, to locally perturb actin-based structures and to measure the traction forces exerted by motile cells.
