Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Aquatic Toxicological Assessment of Solid Pyrolysis Product (SPP) from Synthetic Textile Feedstock Relative to Biochar, Carbon Black, and Activated Carbon.

Environmental science & technology·2026
Same author

Accessible and cost-effective methods for patterning cell monolayers on compliant substrates.

PloS one·2026
Same author

Phase Coexistence in Thermoresponsive PNIPAM Hydrogels Triggered by Mechanical Forces.

Macromolecules·2026
Same author

BARCODE: high throughput screening and analysis of soft active materials.

Nature communications·2025
Same author

Rigidity Governs Entrainment of Bacteria Cells in Biopolymer Scaffolds.

ACS biomaterials science & engineering·2025
Same author

Modeling of protein networks reveals factors affecting stiffness, yield stress, and strain stiffening in silk fibers.

Acta biomaterialia·2025
Same journal

Nanopore sequencing with proteins: synchronization and dischronization of molecular dynamics simulations with laboratory and industrial developments.

Soft matter·2026
Same journal

Catanionics from biosurfactants and regular surfactants: miscibility and structure.

Soft matter·2026
Same journal

Adhesives with a thickness smaller than the fractocohesive length enhance adhesion.

Soft matter·2026
Same journal

Non-equilibrium phase transitions in hybrid Voronoi models of cell colonies.

Soft matter·2026
Same journal

Effects of methoxy substituents on self-assembly and gelation performance of benzamide-based organogelators.

Soft matter·2026
Same journal

Rheology of <i>Escherichia coli</i> suspensions with various bacterial morphologies and motion characteristics.

Soft matter·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Dec 24, 2025

Pattern Generation for Micropattern Traction Microscopy
09:26

Pattern Generation for Micropattern Traction Microscopy

Published on: February 17, 2022

2.6K

Rapid analysis of cell-generated forces within a multicellular aggregate using microsphere-based traction force

Buğra Kaytanlı1, Aimal H Khankhel, Noy Cohen

  • 1Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA. valentine@engineering.ucsb.edu.

Soft Matter
|April 15, 2020
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

We developed a faster method to measure cell forces using elastic microspheres. This technique quickly maps 3D surface stresses, improving traction force microscopy analysis.

More Related Videos

Traction Microscopy Integrated with Microfluidics for Chemotactic Collective Migration
10:53

Traction Microscopy Integrated with Microfluidics for Chemotactic Collective Migration

Published on: October 13, 2019

7.4K
Integrative Toolkit to Analyze Cellular Signals: Forces, Motion, Morphology, and Fluorescence
14:55

Integrative Toolkit to Analyze Cellular Signals: Forces, Motion, Morphology, and Fluorescence

Published on: March 5, 2022

4.3K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Dec 24, 2025

Pattern Generation for Micropattern Traction Microscopy
09:26

Pattern Generation for Micropattern Traction Microscopy

Published on: February 17, 2022

2.6K
Traction Microscopy Integrated with Microfluidics for Chemotactic Collective Migration
10:53

Traction Microscopy Integrated with Microfluidics for Chemotactic Collective Migration

Published on: October 13, 2019

7.4K
Integrative Toolkit to Analyze Cellular Signals: Forces, Motion, Morphology, and Fluorescence
14:55

Integrative Toolkit to Analyze Cellular Signals: Forces, Motion, Morphology, and Fluorescence

Published on: March 5, 2022

4.3K

Area of Science:

  • Biophysics
  • Cellular Mechanics
  • Biomaterials

Background:

  • Measuring forces cells exert is crucial for understanding tissue development and disease.
  • Traditional methods for cell force measurement can be computationally intensive and time-consuming.
  • Elastic microspheres are used as sensors in traction force microscopy (TFM).

Purpose of the Study:

  • To present a novel, computationally efficient approach for measuring cell-generated forces.
  • To enable rapid and accurate 3D surface stress mapping using TFM.
  • To reduce the complexity of analyzing data from microsphere-based TFM.

Main Methods:

  • Utilizing deformations of elastic microspheres embedded in multicellular aggregates as force sensors.
  • Directly fitting measured sensor deformation to an analytical model based on experimental observations.
  • Applying principles of linear elasticity to simplify calculations.

Main Results:

  • Achieved a dramatic reduction in computational complexity for force measurement.
  • Obtained a full 3D mapping of surface stresses directly from sensor deformation.
  • Enabled estimation of cellular tractions within minutes.

Conclusions:

  • The new approach offers extraordinary computational efficiency for TFM data analysis.
  • This method allows for rapid analysis of cell-generated forces from microsphere deformations.
  • Facilitates faster insights into cellular mechanics in multicellular systems.