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Atomic Force Microscopy for Biologists

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2018

Stephen W. Carmichael
Stephen W. Carmichael*
Affiliation:
Mayo Clinic

Extract

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Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has proven to be very useful to material scientists and physicists. Biologists are only beginning to utilize the potential of this methodology. In a recent article, Tatsuo Ushiki, Jiro Hitomi, Shigeaki Ogura, Takeshi Umemoto, and Masatsugu Shigeno reviewed the applications of AFM to biologic studies.

They began by reviewing the basic principles of AFM, emphasizing the value of the non-contact mode for visualizing the relatively “soft” surface of biologic specimens. They presented some examples of biologic images: DNA, chromosomes, and collagen fibrils. The specimens examined with the AFM did not need to be coated, theoretically offering a view with a smaller potential for artifacts. AFM images have the advantage of containing quantitative information about the sample height.

Type
Research Article
Information
Microscopy Today , Volume 5 , Issue 3 , April 1997 , pp. 3 - 4
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 1997

References

2. Ushiki, T., Hitomi, J., Ogura, S, Umemoto, T., and Shigeno, M., Atomic force microscopy in histology and cytology, Arch. Histol. Ctyol ., 59: 421–431, 1996 Google ScholarPubMed.

3. Note added in proof. While this column was being prepared, an article by Stefan Schneider et al, appeared in PNAS, lending credence to this concluding statement. This article will be the subject of next month's column.