Technical Developments in the Biological Applications of Scanning Force Microscopy (SFM). Development of an SFM-Based Nano-Manipulation Instrument

本项目涉及发展和加强扫描力显微镜（SFM）成像的生物标本。将探索SFM的新技术能力，以改进通过SFM在空气中研究多蛋白质-DNA复合物的方法，包括一种用于SFM研究的标记这些复合物的新方法和一种确定蛋白质诱导的DNA弯曲的方法。此外，将开发一种基于SFM的纳米操纵仪器，并探索生产更锋利探针的方法，以提高SFM的空间分辨率。这些改进的结合将大大扩展SFM在生物系统中的适用性。

This project involves the development and enhancement of scanning force microscopy (SFM) for imaging of biological specimens. New technical capabilities for SFM will be explored to improve methods to investigate multi-protein-DNA complexes by SFM in air, including a novel method to label these complexes for SFM studies and a method to determine protein-induced DNA bending. In addition, an SFM-based nanomanipulator instrument will be developed and methods for the production of sharper probes will be explored to improve the spatial resolution of the SFM. The combination of these enhancements should greatly expand the applicability of SFM to biological systems.