Practical applications of atomic force microscopy in biomedicine

Abstract

The last thirty years of progress of atomic force microscopy (AFM) applied to living matter is reviewed with a focus on potential uses in drug discovery or screening of patient samples. AFM-based technologies are still at Proof of Concept level - or below, however, they are particularly promising for i) live imaging of unlabeled membrane proteins and ii) nanomechanical screening of biological samples, e.g. cancer biopsies.

Keywords

• Atomic force microscopy
• Cell membranes
• Membrane proteins
• Unroofing
• Applications