One cell at a time
It is believed that the different symptoms individuals exhibit when infected with viruses are due to the varying rate at which a small proportion of cells initially produce interferon. “It could be that those who develop severe symptoms with infection are ‘lazy’ first responder-cells,” notes Van Eyndhoven. The question is how this can be studied in detail.
“Thanks to recent advances, we now have the technology to study the behavior of individual immune cells and to manipulate their behavior. In other words, we can study the cells one by one,” says Van Eyndhoven. “For my research, I focused on experiments with primary immune cells, isolated from both healthy donors and patients with autoimmune diseases. Using computer models, we were able to interpret the lab results.”
To study individual immune cells in the lab, Van Eyndhoven used microfluidic devices. “I was able to study and activate individual immune cells in picolitre droplets, which was virtually impossible in the past. This provided insight into how an individual cell communicates with cells that may be nearby.”
Microfluidic experiments could have helped to understand individual cell behavior, but it proved very difficult for Van Eyndhoven and her collaborators to replicate the same behavior in a livestudy environment. “That’s when we turned to computer modeling because the models can approximate a large cellular system and simultaneously take into account different things like interacting molecules, complex tissues and even the patient.”