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Advances in atomic force microscopy for single-cell analysis

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Abstract

Single-cell analysis has been considered as a promising way to uncover the underlying mechanisms guiding the mysteries of life activities, which considerably complements traditional ensemble assays and yields novel insights into cell biology. The advent of atomic force microscopy (AFM) provides a potent tool for investigating the structures and properties of native biological samples at the micro/nanoscale under near-physiological conditions, which promotes the studies of single-cell behaviors. In the past decades, AFM has achieved great success in single-cell observation and manipulation for biomedical applications, demonstrating the excellent capabilities of AFM in addressing biological issues at the single-cell level with unprecedented spatiotemporal resolution. In this article, we review the recent advances in single-cell analysis that has been made with the utilization of AFM, and provide perspectives for future progression.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 61873258, 61503372, U1613220, and 61433017), the Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS (No. 2017243), and the CAS FEA International Partnership Program for Creative Research Teams.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China

    Mi Li, Yuechao Wang & Lianqing Liu

  2. Institutes for Robotics and Intelligent Manufacturing, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China

    Mi Li, Yuechao Wang & Lianqing Liu

  3. Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 999077, China

    Ning Xi

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  1. Mi Li
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Correspondence to Mi Li or Lianqing Liu.

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Li, M., Xi, N., Wang, Y. et al. Advances in atomic force microscopy for single-cell analysis. Nano Res. 12, 703–718 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-018-2260-0

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