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Measuring the Mechanical Properties of Single Cells by AFM

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Investigations of Cellular and Molecular Biophysical Properties by Atomic Force Microscopy Nanorobotics

Part of the book series: Springer Theses ((Springer Theses))

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Abstract

AFM is a powerful tool for quantifying single-cell mechanics. The principle and methods of measuring cellular Young’s modulus by AFM was firstly presented. Then spherical probes were fabricated by gluing individual spheres to the AFM probe based on optical-guided AFM micromanipulations. With the use of spherical probes, the Young's modulus of human erythrocytes and three types of human suspended cancerous cells with different invasiveness was measured, showing the close links between cell elasticity and cell invasiveness capabilities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, China

    Mi Li

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  1. Mi Li
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Correspondence to Mi Li .

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Li, M. (2018). Measuring the Mechanical Properties of Single Cells by AFM. In: Investigations of Cellular and Molecular Biophysical Properties by Atomic Force Microscopy Nanorobotics. Springer Theses. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6829-4_3

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