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Nature Physics 5, 536–537 (1 August 2009) | doi:10.1038/nphys1349

Cell migration: Going my way?

Joel Voldman

How do you tell a living cell to “come here”? In the absence of external influences, mammalian cells on a glass or plastic surface will migrate across that surface in a random walk. It is possible to encourage the cells to end up at a given location on the surface, by patterning it with molecules that adhere the cells to certain parts and repel them from other parts.