Nanomanipulation and characterization of structural proteins

A methodology is presented for simultaneous mechanical testing and atomic force microscopy imaging of single collagen fibrils under load. This method holds the promise for determining single-fibril modulus and strength in various experimental preparations. Examples of this utility include characterization of deformation and failure modes of naturally occurring and engineered structural proteins. Additional promise of this technique is robotic surgery at the submicron scale for repairing neuronal tracts and capillaries with structural proteins. A series of algorithms for tying knots at the nanoscale in single fibrils is also presented.