Jens Struckmeier et al 2008 Nanotechnology 19 384020 doi:10.1088/0957-4484/19/38/384020
Jens Struckmeier1,2,5, Reiner Wahl2, Mirko Leuschner1,2, Joao Nunes1, Harald Janovjak1,3, Ulrich Geisler2, Gerd Hofmann2, Torsten Jähnke4 and Daniel J Müller1,5
Show affiliationsWith the introduction of single-molecule force spectroscopy (SMFS) it has become possible to directly access the interactions of various molecular systems. A bottleneck in conventional SMFS is collecting the large amount of data required for statistically meaningful analysis. Currently, atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based SMFS requires the user to tediously 'fish' for single molecules. In addition, most experimental and environmental conditions must be manually adjusted. Here, we developed a fully automated single-molecule force spectroscope. The instrument is able to perform SMFS while monitoring and regulating experimental conditions such as buffer composition and temperature. Cantilever alignment and calibration can also be automatically performed during experiments. This, combined with in-line data analysis, enables the instrument, once set up, to perform complete SMFS experiments autonomously.
87.64.Dz Scanning tunneling and atomic force microscopy
87.15.R- Reactions and kinetics
82.37.Rs Single molecule manipulation of proteins and other biological molecules
Issue 38 (24 September 2008)
Received 16 March 2008, in final form 19 June 2008
Published 12 August 2008
Jens Struckmeier et al 2008 Nanotechnology 19 384020
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