Cellular mechanisms controlling cell migration in complex in vivo contexts

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Cell migration is a key process in development, homeostasis and disease. Understanding the mechanisms controlling the migration of cells is thus important for understanding of a range of biological events. During their migration, cells interact with other cell types and with extracellular matrix components, which constitute migration substrates or hurdles that influence the movement of the cells. Identifying the features in the environment that affect cell migration and studying the corresponding cellular responses is thus of relevance for different processes. The aim of the proposed project is to employ zebrafish primordial germ cells as an in vivo vertebrate single cell migration model for studying this topic. The proposed work will make use of genetic and reverse genetic tools coupled with mathematical analysis to identify structures in the environment that alter different dynamic parameters and responses relevant for cell migration. The effect of the identified tissue features will be analyzed at the level of the impact on cell migration speed and directionality on one hand and on cell morphology and the underlying molecular cell polarity on the other. Together, these studies will provide a comprehensive understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms controlling the migration of single cells within the tissue in vivo.