Application note describes applications in which atomic force microscopy is used with confocal laser scanning microscopy in studying biological phenomena
The combination of atomic force microscopy (AFM) and confocal microscopy is increasingly used to study various biological phenomena.
Three applications that use AFM and a Bio-Rad Radiance confocal laser scanning microscopy system are described in an application note published by Bio-Rad.
AFM represents a unique approach to detect structures and forces in the nanoscale range and has been extensively applied in the biological sciences.
The technique has several advantages that make it attractive to biologists in that it can yield high resolution spatial images of live cells under near physiological conditions.
Due to the ability of AFM to measure forces, it is also possible to evaluate physical parameters in biological materials.
Examples include topographic and material property analysis of living cells, measuring binding forces and mapping cellular distribution of single receptors interacting with cognate ligands.
AFM applications in biology to date can be divided into four broad categories: imaging, material property measurements, biophysics, and micromanipulation studies.
Now, the use of AFM in conjunction with confocal microscopy to study the effects of AFM stimulus on living cells is described in Bio-Rad's application note 35, which is available free of charge.
The Radiance2100 confocal and multi-photon system is available exclusively from Bio-Rad Cell Science Division.
