Engineering motile amoeboid cells toward targeted cell-mediated transport

The necessity of reliable bio-hybrid microsystems, especially in the field of medical science, is becoming more obvious every day. Despite the growing efforts, applications such as targeted drug delivery remain challenging. Inspired by leukocytes, we propose to exploit the potential of eukaryotic cells as microtransporters, using D. discoideum cells. Our preliminary tests demonstrated the ability of cells to displace cargo, with faster spreading agent cells, suggesting cell-particle interactions as a stimulus promoting cell motility [1]. Chemotaxis experiments showed a guided transport driven by single or collective cells also across 3D collagen matrices, highlighting reliability of our system also in complex environments.
Resolving sub-second dynamics of the system leads to estimation of fN range pulling forces exerted on a cargo by the cell. Remarkably, under shear flow conditions, many agent cells are pulled down stream but maintain adhesion to the cargo for drag forces up to the pN-regime. This shows that cells exert limited yet considerable pulling force on the cargo and reveals the adaptive mechanics of the cells under shear stress. These findings will serve as a basis for understanding such cell-mediated microtransport.
[1] Nagel et al. (2019) Advanced Science 6(3) 1801242