Nanomanipulation and nanotechnology for future diagnostics

Nanomanipulation is a technology to manipulate a small object sized in nanometer to submicron scale. Optical tweezers is one of nanomanipulation techniques, which can investigate pico-newton to femto-newton force exerted on microscopic objects. We have developed a cell palpation system by use of optical tweezers and performed palpation experiments on cells. With the cell palpation system, an operator manipulates a probe particle to touch a certain location of a cell and feels the strength of the cell by hand through a haptic device, which displays force calculated and generated by a computer. We expect this technique can be used in diagnostic purpose and utilized not only in research field but also in daily medicine.