Title
Biophysical Measurements of Cells, Microtubules, and DNA with an Atomic Force Microscope
Publication Date
12-15-2014
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Atomic force microscopes (AFMs) are ubiquitous in research laboratories and have recently been priced for use in teaching laboratories. Here we review several AFM platforms (Dimension 3000 by Digital Instruments, EasyScan2 by Nanosurf, ezAFM by Nanomagnetics, and TKAFM by Thorlabs) and describe various biophysical experiments that could be done in the teaching laboratory using these instruments. In particular, we focus on experiments that image biological materials and quantify biophysical parameters: 1) imaging cells to determine membrane tension, 2) imaging microtubules to determine their persistence length, 3) imaging the random walk of DNA molecules to determine their contour length, and 4) imaging stretched DNA molecules to measure the tensional force.
Original Citation
Devenica, L.M., Contee, C., Cabrejo, R., Kurek, M., Deveney, E.F., & Carter, A.R. (2014). Biophysical Measurements of Cells, Microtubules, and DNA with an Atomic Force Microscope. Published December 15, 2014. arXiv: 1512.05662v1 [physics.ed-ph].
Identifier
arXiv: 1512.05662v1 [physics.ed-ph]
Virtual Commons Citation
Devenica, Luka M.; Contee, Clay; Cabrejo, Raysa; Kurek, Matthew; Deveney, Edward F.; and Carter, Ashley R. (2014). Biophysical Measurements of Cells, Microtubules, and DNA with an Atomic Force Microscope. In Physics Faculty Publications. Paper 20.
Available at: https://vc.bridgew.edu/physics_fac/20
Comments
Preprint published to arXiv.org.