Atomic Force Microscopy group

Head: Aleksander Balter

Main equipment:

• 5500 Agilent atomic force microscope
• Nikon Eclipse Ti-E inverted research fluorescence microscope with two micropipette manipulators

Research subjects:

• studies of systems consisting of biomimetic lipid bilayers deposited on polyelectrolyte multilayers (PEM)
• monitoring of DNA interactions with PEM and lipid membranes deposited on PEM
• AFM imaging of biological nanostructures
• single molecule force spectroscopy of DNA and proteins
• AFM force spectroscopy of single cells and nanofibers
• AFM ligand-receptor affinity imaging
• studies of physicochemical and nanomechanical aspects of adhesion of bacteria to synthetic surfaces and metals
• single-molecule force spectroscopy of autism-related neuronal cell adhesion proteins
• AFM imaging and biomechanics of neuronal cells

The group offers collaboration and expertise in the field of the AFM force spectroscopy of cells and single molecules, both in terms of the AFM instrumentation available in Toruń and in terms of AFM experimental data interpretation.