Nanotechnology Now

Our NanoNews Digest Sponsors







Heifer International

Wikipedia Affiliate Button


Home > Press > A Little Less Force: Making Atomic Force Microscopy Work for Cells

By placing a nanowire cantilever in the focus of a laser beam and detecting the resulting light pattern, scientists at the Molecular Foundry believe atomic force microscopy can be used to non-destructively image the surface of a biological cell (green-blue structure) and its proteins (shown in brown). (Illustration by Flavio Robles, Berkeley Lab Public Affairs)
By placing a nanowire cantilever in the focus of a laser beam and detecting the resulting light pattern, scientists at the Molecular Foundry believe atomic force microscopy can be used to non-destructively image the surface of a biological cell (green-blue structure) and its proteins (shown in brown). (Illustration by Flavio Robles, Berkeley Lab Public Affairs)

Abstract:
Atomic force microscopy, a tactile-based probe technique, provides a three-dimensional nanoscale image of a material by gliding a needle-like arm across the material's surface. The core of this AFM imaging workhorse is a cantilever with a sharp tip that deflects as it encounters undulations across a surface. Due to a minimum force required for imaging, conventional AFM cantilevers can deform or even tear apart living cells and other biological materials. While scientists have made strides in reducing this minimum force by making smaller cantilevers, the force is still too great to image cells with high resolution. Indeed, for imaging objects smaller than the diffraction limit of light—that is, nanometer dimensions—this approach hits a roadblock as the instrument can no longer sense minute forces.

A Little Less Force: Making Atomic Force Microscopy Work for Cells

Berkeley, CA | Posted on April 22nd, 2010

Now, however, scientists with the Molecular Foundry, a U.S. Department of Energy User Facility located at Berkeley Lab, have developed nano-sized cantilevers whose gentle touch could help discern the workings of living cells and other soft materials in their natural, liquid environment. Used in combination with a revolutionary detection mechanism, this new imaging tool is sensitive enough to investigate soft materials without the limitations present in other cantilevers.

"Whether we are considering biological systems or other complex, self-assembling nanostructures, this organization will be done in a liquid," says Paul Ashby, a Molecular Foundry staff scientist who led this research in the Foundry's Imaging and Manipulation of Nanostructures Facility. "If we have an investigative probe that excels in this environment, we could image individual proteins as they function on the cell surface."

Says Babak Sanii, a post-doctoral researcher in the Foundry, "Shrinking the cantilever down to nanoscale dimensions dramatically reduces the force it applies, but to monitor the movements of such a small cantilever, we needed a new detection scheme."

Rather than measuring the cantilever's deflection by bouncing a laser off it, Ashby and Sanii place the nanowire cantilever in the focus of a laser beam and detect the resulting light pattern, pinpointing the nanowire's position with high resolution. The duo say this work provides a launching pad for building a nanowire-based atomic force microscopes that could be used to study biological cells and model cellular components such as vesicles or bilayers. In particular, Ashby and Sanii hope to learn more about integrins, proteins found on the surface of cells that mediate adhesion and are part of signaling pathways linked to cell growth and migration.

"No present technique probes the assembly and dynamics of protein complexes in the cell membrane," adds Ashby. "A dynamic probe is the holy grail of soft matter imaging, and would help determine how protein complexes associate and disassociate."

"High sensitivity deflection detection of nanowires," by Babak Sanii and Paul D. Ashby, appears in Physical Review Letters and is available in Physical Review Letters online.

This work at the Molecular Foundry was supported by the DOE's Office of Science.

####

About Berkeley Lab
Berkeley Lab is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory located in Berkeley, California. It conducts unclassified scientific research and is managed by the University of California.

The Molecular Foundry is one of the five DOE Nanoscale Science Research Centers (NSRCs), premier national user facilities for interdisciplinary research at the nanoscale. Together the NSRCs comprise a suite of complementary facilities that provide researchers with state-of-the-art capabilities to fabricate, process, characterize and model nanoscale materials, and constitute the largest infrastructure investment of the National Nanotechnology Initiative. The NSRCs are located at DOE’s Argonne, Brookhaven, Lawrence Berkeley, Oak Ridge and Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories. For more information about the DOE NSRCs, please visit nano.energy.gov.

For more information, please click here

Contacts:
Aditi Risbud
(510)486-4861

Copyright © Berkeley Lab

If you have a comment, please Contact us.

Issuers of news releases, not 7th Wave, Inc. or Nanotechnology Now, are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.

Bookmark:
Delicious Digg Newsvine Google Yahoo Reddit Magnoliacom Furl Facebook

Related News Press

News and information

Sound waves precisely position nanowires June 19th, 2013

Scientists Use Nanotechnology to Increase Thermal Stability of Essential Oils June 19th, 2013

Production of Bioactive Material for Quick Treatment of Bone Damages June 19th, 2013

Nanometrics Announces Participation in 5th Annual CEO Investor Summit: Accredited Investor and Publishing Research Analyst Event to be Held Concurrently With SEMICON West and Intersolar 2013 in San Francisco June 19th, 2013

Govt.-Legislation/Regulation/Funding/Policy

Sound waves precisely position nanowires June 19th, 2013

3-D printing could lead to tiny medical implants, electronics, robots, more June 18th, 2013

Working backward: Computer-aided design of zeolite templates: Rice scientists apply drug-design lessons to production of industrial minerals June 17th, 2013

An Innovative material for the Green Earth: Simple and inexpensive process to make a material for CO2 adsorption June 17th, 2013

Nanomedicine

Production of Bioactive Material for Quick Treatment of Bone Damages June 19th, 2013

3-D printing could lead to tiny medical implants, electronics, robots, more June 18th, 2013

Pioneering breakthrough of chemical nanoengineering to design drugs controlled by light June 18th, 2013

Study Shows How the Nanog Protein Promotes Growth of Head and Neck Cancer June 18th, 2013

Announcements

Sound waves precisely position nanowires June 19th, 2013

Scientists Use Nanotechnology to Increase Thermal Stability of Essential Oils June 19th, 2013

Production of Bioactive Material for Quick Treatment of Bone Damages June 19th, 2013

Nanometrics Announces Participation in 5th Annual CEO Investor Summit: Accredited Investor and Publishing Research Analyst Event to be Held Concurrently With SEMICON West and Intersolar 2013 in San Francisco June 19th, 2013

Tools

Nanometrics Announces Participation in 5th Annual CEO Investor Summit: Accredited Investor and Publishing Research Analyst Event to be Held Concurrently With SEMICON West and Intersolar 2013 in San Francisco June 19th, 2013

Beneq’s comprehensive industrial Thin Film Coating Services shorten time to market June 18th, 2013

Which qubit my dear? New method to distinguish between neighbouring quantum bits June 18th, 2013

Pioneering breakthrough of chemical nanoengineering to design drugs controlled by light June 18th, 2013

Nanobiotechnology

Iranian Scientists Produce Dynamometer for Nanoparticles, Biocells June 15th, 2013

Shape of nanoparticles points the way toward more targeted drugs: A collaboration of scientists at Sanford-Burnham and the University of California, Santa Barbara, finds that rod-shaped particles, rather than spherical particles, appear more effective at adhering to cells June 10th, 2013

Catching individual molecules in a million with optical antennas inside nano-boxes June 10th, 2013

Whispering light hears liquids talk: University of Illinois researchers build first-ever bridge between optomechanics and microfluidics June 7th, 2013

NanoNews-Digest
The latest news from around the world, FREE







  Premium Products
NanoNews-Custom
Only the news you want to read!
 Learn More
NanoTech-Transfer
University Technology Transfer & Patents
 Learn More
NanoStrategies
Full-service, expert consulting
 Learn More












ASP
Nanotechnology Now Featured Books




NNN

The Hunger Project








abbigliamento uomo
Computer Accessories
© Copyright 1999-2013 7th Wave, Inc. All Rights Reserved PRIVACY POLICY :: CONTACT US :: STATS :: SITE MAP :: ADVERTISE