Once upon a time...

The first World Cell Race

Once upon a time, in the realm of cell biology, three brilliant leaders, Manuel Théry (CEA, Grenoble), Matthieu Piel and Ana

Maria Lennon (Institut Curie, Paris) decided to make cells compete against each other in a world tournament. The idea behind this original and

unusual race was to gather scientific data regarding the mechanical properties underlying cell migration, a fundamental mechanism involved in embryogenesis,

tissue morphogenesis, immune response, as well as in some diseases such as metastatic spread.

«The original idea came to us during the 2010 American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) meeting where it appeared that the community working on cell migration was larger than ever. I have always been keen to mix both fun and serious science”, said Manuel Théry, one of the 3 organizers of the event. “I was amazed and encouraged by the enthusiasm it immediately raised in the scientific community.” “Wow! This is awesome.” said Wendell Lim at UCSF when first asked to become one of the participating Imaging Centers.

The first edition of the World Cell Race was then created the following year, organized by a network of researchers and cells coming from labs all around the globe. The participants had to select the cell type they regarded as their potential knight for the race, whether it were wild, mutant or modified. Each contestant had to use the same mount, 4 µm- and 12 µm-wide fibronectin lines printed in glass-bottomed plates, which have been specifically designed by CYTOO for this extraordinary event. The World Cell Race was run simultaneously in 6 different Nikon imaging centers worldwide (Boston, San Francisco, Paris, London, Singapore, and Heidelberg) during the summer of 2011. Only cells with an effective overall displacement of at least 350 µm were considered. The suspense was unbearable...

“The whole thing strikes me as glorious lunacy and I really hope it goes well...”

Russ Swan, Laboratory Talk editor

Figure 1: Microfabricated tracks (green) coated with fibronectin, cell cytoskeleton labeled with phal-

loidin to visualize actin networks (false colors). Image captured by Timothée Vignaud (CEA, Grenoble)

Further reading:- Maiuri P, Terriac E, Paul-Gilloteaux P, et al. The first World Cell Race. Curr Biol. 2012;22(17):R673–R675.- Sharma V, Beaty B, Patsialou A, et al. Reconstitution of in vivo macrophage-tumor cell pairing and streaming motility on one-dimensional micro-patterned substrates. IntraVital. 2012;1(1):77–85.

Flashed at 5.2 µpm*, the world’s fastest cell turned out

to be a human fetal bone-marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell, trained by Yuchun Liu,

the 2011 lord of the cells from Singapore! Second and third were two cell lines of an unaltered and a tweaked

version of breast epithelial cells, submitted by Odile Filhol-Cochet of iRTSV in France. They clocked 3.2 and 2.7 µpm respectively. Finishing

fourth, at an average speed of 2.5 µpm, were cultured human skin cells derived from patients with a rare genetic skin disorder. These were submitted by Rumena

Begum of King’s College London. During the award ceremony, organizers also introduced the «Tortoise» prize to reward persistence instead of speed. The prize went to a line of modified

mouse embryonic fibroblasts submitted by Harini Krishnan at UMD, Stratford, New Jersey.

In appearance, the World Cell Race seemed to be a crazy idea, but the results were no less scientifically relevant. These were published a few months later in Current Biology, in a paper written under the guidance of

Manuel Théry: «The large-scale analysis, made feasible by this competition-oriented collaboration, demonstrated that higher cell speed correlates with the persistence of movement in the same direction irrespective of cell origin». «Ultimately,

the World Cell Race may just be one of several cell contests, says Théry. Other competitions—for cellular prowess in swimming and strength—are being considered. Perhaps a full scale Cyto-lympics is just a matter of time.»

As the competition unfolded, we put on the market our CYTOOchips Motility, glass coverslips with tracks to study cell migration over lines of various widths. Scientists all over the world have ordered these unique chips and some exceptional results have been unveiled (see our Story «Tumor ECM: the Highway to Cell»).

To celebrate the first anniversary of the First World Cell Race, we now propose adhesive Motility tracks in a CYTOOplate format. This new product will offer users access to hundreds of lines printed in each microplate well, for high-content cell screening applications.

Why not discover this new product, and write the next chapter of this odyssey by organizing a second World Cell Race?...

Contact us to discuss your application contact@cytoo.com +33 438 88 47 05www.cytoo.com

Cell Architects7 parvis Louis Néel, BHT, BP 50 - 38040 Grenoble FRANCE

IncHarvard SquareOne Mifflin PlaceSuite 400 Cambridge,MA 02138, USA+1 617 674 7711

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*microns per minute