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Updated: Jun 23, 2026

DNA Tension Probes to Map the Transient Piconewton Receptor Forces by Immune Cells
Published on: March 20, 2021
Force probing surfaces of living cells to molecular resolution
Daniel J Müller1, Jonne Helenius, David Alsteens
1Biotechnology Center, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany. mueller@biotec.tu-dresden.de
Abstract:
Biological processes rely on molecular interactions that can be directly measured using force spectroscopy techniques. Here we review how atomic force microscopy can be applied to force probe surfaces of living cells to single-molecule resolution. Such probing of individual interactions can be used to map cell surface receptors, and to assay the receptors' functional states, binding kinetics and landscapes. This information provides unique insight into how cells structurally and functionally modulate the molecules of their surfaces to interact with the cellular environment.
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