Biological Applications of a Nanomanipulator Based on AFM: In situ visualization and quantification of cellular behaviors at the single-molecule level.

Cells are the structural and functional unit of living organisms. Knowledge of cellular behaviors is critical for us to understand the underlying mechanisms that guide the physiological and pathological changes in living organisms. So far, virtually all knowledge of the molecular reactions in cells has come from the ensemble measurements done in test tubes with purified molecules [1], [2]. The disadvantage of this approach is that experiments with purified molecules require the lysis of cells, meaning that the obtained results may not reflect the real situations of living cells.