Vanderbilt University scientists have detected previously unnoticed chemical signals that individual cells in the immune system use to communicate with each other over short distances.

The signals originated in dendritic cells — the sentinels of the immune system that do the initial detection of microscopic invaders.

A new technology, a multi-trap nanophysiometer, demonstrated the existence of non-contact signaling. This is one of the first microfluidic devices that has been applied successfully to the study of cell-to-cell signaling in the immune system.