How Do Immune Cells Find Bacteria?
Channel: cellsandfate
Date: 2015-12-01

It's harder than you think! 
Here's an 80s style animation by Johannes Zipperle about recent findings of some of the molecular mechanisms of how neutrophils find invading bacteria and other pathogens. 
In a vital process called autocrine purinergic signalling, cells navigate throughout the tissue to find and destroy the source of infection.

Animated, edited and composed by Johannes Zipperle
Supervisor and principal investigator: Prof. Wolfgang Junger
Harvard Medical School
Department of Surgery
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Based on experiments by: Yi Bao, Yu Chen and Carola Ledderose
Narrated by Robin Kimmel
Recording by Thorsten Schwerte
Music by Vector&Valerian

For further reading:

mTOR and differential activation of mitochondria orchestrate neutrophil chemotaxis. Bao Y, Ledderose C, Graf AF, Brix B, Birsak T, Lee A, Zhang J, Junger WG. J Cell Biol. (2015)

Mitochondria regulate neutrophil activation by generating ATP for autocrine purinergic signaling.
Bao Y, Ledderose C, Seier T, Graf AF, Brix B, Chong E, Junger WG.
J Biol Chem. (2014)

Immune cell regulation by autocrine purinergic signalling.
Junger WG.
Nat Rev Immunol. (2011)

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