Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is a scanning probe technique that allows visualization of single biomolecules and complexes deposited on a surface with nanometer resolution. AFM is a powerful tool for characterizing protein-protein and protein-DNA interactions. It can be used to capture snapshots of protein-DNA solution dynamics, which in turn, enables the characterization of the conformational ...

An exact analytical solution, based on the method of images, is obtained for the description of the electric field between an atomic force microscope (AFM) tip and a thin dielectric polymer film (30 nm thick) spin coated on a conductive substrate. Three different tip shapes are found to produce electrostatic pressure above the plasticity threshold in the polymers up to 50 MPa. It is shown exper...

Understanding the relationships between viral material properties (stiffness, strength, charge density, adhesion, hydration, viscosity, etc.), structure (protein sub-units, genome, surface receptors, appendages), and functions (self-assembly, stability, disassembly, infection) is of significant importance in physical virology and nanomedicine. Conventional Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) methods ...

We present a novel atomic force microscope (AFM) system, operational in liquid at variable gravity, dedicated to image cell shape changes of cells in vitro under hypergravity conditions. The hypergravity AFM is realized by mounting a stand-alone AFM into a large-diameter centrifuge. The balance between mechanical forces, both intra- and extracellular, determines both cell shape and integrity. G...

The first stages of the crystallization of polycaprolactone (PCL) were studied using several techniques. The crystallization exotherms measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were analyzed and compared with results obtained by polarized optical microscopy (POM), rheology, and atomic force microscope (AFM). The experimental results suggest a strong influence of the observation scale....

A technique for permanently capturing a replica impression of biological cells has been developed to facilitate analysis using nanometer resolution imaging tools, namely the atomic force microscope (AFM). The method, termed Bioimprint, creates a permanent cell 'footprint' in a non-biohazardous Poly (dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) polymer composite. The transfer of nanometer scale biological informati...

technique, atomic force microscopy (AFM) is also uniquely well suited to measuring force interactions at the piconewton and nanonewton scale. This capability has been widely used to measure the nanomechanical properties of materials ranging from polymers to living cells and even to characterize single molecules. These measurements are normally made using common, unmodified AFM probes. However, ...

Biological membranes mediate several biological processes that are directly associated with their physical properties but sometimes difficult to evaluate. Supported lipid bilayers (SLBs) are model systems widely used to characterize the structure of biological membranes. Cholesterol (Chol) plays an essential role in the modulation of membrane physical properties. It directly influences the orde...

The atomic force microscope (AFM) is a remarkably simple instrument that can measure forces down to piconewtons and can resolve force changes caused by the displacement of its probe by a fraction of a nanometer. Furthermore, these measurements can be done under water, allowing for the study of biological material under conditions that resemble those in vivo. The AFM functions like aminiature ph...

We report the creation of Ge2Sb2Te5 metasurfaces on sapphire substrates by ablation method and study their structural properties scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force (AFM), optical diffraction. The main emphasis is technique, which boils down to obtaining bright Laue diffraction patterns a screen, observing them with naked eye, analyzing fine structure reflections. It has been demon...