Manipulation of living cells by atomic force microscopy

Currently there is a great interest in using atomic force microscopy (AFM) to study living cells under biophysiological conditions. It has been shown that problems invoked by the deformation and destruction of soft biological materials can be solved by using tapping mode AFM. Besides the capability of AFM to characterize the membrane surface of living cells, it can be employed to modify surfaces and manipulate nano sized structures. By feeding force information measured from AFM to a haptic joystick, an augmented reality is developed. Under the assistance of the augmented virtual reality, the operator can monitor the tip position and feel the three dimensional forces which are proportional to the actual forces acting on the cantilever during nanomanipulation. The experimental study shows the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.