JPK Instruments has announced that its website has been redesigned to provide a route to learning about the applications of the different forms of scanning probe microscopy.
The company said that historically techniques, particularly scanning probe microscopy, were developed and used by physicists.
However, in the last five or 10 years it said there has been a shift as companies have developed nanoinstrumentation designed to specifically address the experimental problems from biophysicists and surface scientists to cell biologists and life scientists.
Through its redesigned website, users can learn about JPK's core product line of the Nanowizard BioAFM platform, which provides high resolution imaging, advanced force measurements and simultaneous optical imaging in liquids.
Next is in the area of automated force spectroscopy.
Automation using the Forcerobot makes it fast enough to deliver high-quality data in short time-frames.
Nanooptics are provided to the life sciences through the technique of optical tweezers.
The concept of using nanoparticles as a local sensor or probe enables important developments in medicine, molecular and cellular biology.
The ability to observe the entrance process of a particle into a cell in real-time, in 3D and without perturbation of the biological specimen is available through the Nanotracker system.
Finally, the website describes CellHesion technology, which provides the measurement of cell adhesion and cell elasticity.
To date, cellular adhesion has been studied with fluorescence microscopy, capillary techniques or mechanical methods such as rotation assays and flow chambers.
All these methods have their limitations.
Either they provide qualitative, difficult-to-interpret results or are difficult to operate.
JPK said that CellHesion solves these problems.
JPK's website provides a resource for applications of scanning probe and optical tweezers technology.
Examples illustrate the power of these techniques when used in combination with more established methods such as confocal and fluorescence microscopy helping users, experts and beginners.
An image gallery with images, force curves and other measurements is utilised.
