Related papers: Force spectroscopy in studying infection
Optical tweezers are a technique in which microscopic-sized particles, including living cells and bacteria, can be non-intrusively trapped with high accuracy solely using focused light. The technique has therefore become a powerful tool in…
Force spectroscopy using magnetic tweezers (MT) is a powerful method to probe the physical characteristics of single polymers. Typically, molecules are functionalized for specific attachment to a glass surface at one end and a micron-scale…
Multi-step assembly of individual protein building blocks is key to the formation of essential higher-order structures inside and outside of cells. Optical tweezers is a technique well suited to investigate the mechanics and dynamics of…
One of the most intriguing results of single molecule experiments on proteins and nucleic acids is the discovery of functional heterogeneity: the observation that complex cellular machines exhibit multiple, biologically active…
Biophotonic techniques are growing in rapid rhythms enabling the monitoring of subcellular structures and non-invasive theranostic interventions in cancer and autoimmune diseases. The integration of Biophotonics with nanotechnology and…
Current optical manipulation techniques rely on carefully engineered setups and samples. Although similar conditions are routinely met in research laboratories, it is still a challenge to manipulate microparticles when the environment is…
We present two examples of how single-molecule experimental techniques applied to biological systems can give insight into problems within the scope of equilibrium and nonequilibrium mesoscopic thermodynamics. The first example is the…
Optical tweezers equipped with position detection allow for application of piconewton-scale forces and high-temporal-resolution measurements of nanometer-scale motion. While typically used for trapping microscopic objects, the optical…
We present a novel experimental setup in which magnetic and optical tweezers are combined for torque and force transduction onto single filamentous molecules in a transverse configuration to allow simultaneous mechanical measurement and…
I review single-molecule experiments (SME) in biological physics. Recent technological developments have provided the tools to design and build scientific instruments of high enough sensitivity and precision to manipulate and visualize…
Bacterial biofilms underlie many persistent infections, posing major hurdles in antibiotic treatment. Here, we design and demonstrate tug-of-war optical tweezers that can facilitate assessment of cell-cell adhesion - a key contributing…
Investigating the dynamics of single biomolecules is essential for unlocking new frontiers in biophysics and medicine. Here, we present a transformative approach using metamaterial optical tweezers to trap and study individual urease…
We report the cell biological applications of a recently developed multiphoton fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy system using a streak camera (StreakFLIM). The system was calibrated with standard fluorophore specimens and was shown…
Red blood cells (RBCs) sustain mechanical stresses associated with microcirculatory flow through ATP-driven plasma membrane flickering. This is an active phenomenon driven by motor proteins that regulate interactions between the spectrin…
We show that in experimental atomic force microscopy studies of the lifetime distribution of mechanically stressed folded proteins the effects of externally applied fluctuations can not be distinguished from those of internally present…
Normal thermal fluctuations of the cell membrane have been studied extensively using high resolution microscopy and focused light, particularly at the peripheral regions of a cell. We use a single probe particle attached non-specifically to…
Dynamic force spectroscopy (DFS) is an experimental technique that is commonly used to assess information of the strength, energy landscape, and lifetime of noncovalent bio-molecular interactions. DFS traditionally requires an applied force…
Coupling between electrical and mechanical phenomena is a near-universal characteristic of inorganic and biological systems alike, with examples ranging from ferroelectric perovskites to electromotor proteins in cellular membranes.…
In recent years, single molecule force techniques have opened a new avenue to decipher the folding landscapes of biopolymers by allowing us to watch and manipulate the dynamics of individual proteins and nucleic acids. In single molecule…
Intracellular structural alterations are hallmark of several disease conditions and treatment modalities. However, robust methods to quantify these changes are scarce. In view of this, we introduce a new method to quantify structural…