Mechanical Properties of Living Cells: Atomic Force Microscopy Studies, Modeling, and Education

活细胞的机械性质：原子力显微镜研究、建模和教育。J. BERGER *，K. S. VEMAGANTI *，和H.辛辛那提大学，辛辛那提，俄亥俄州，45221提案CMS-0301463摘要这三年NSF奖支持活细胞的机械性能测定的基础研究。 来自辛辛那提（UC）工程和医学学院的研究人员组建了一个跨学科团队，通过原子力显微镜（AFM）检查活细胞的压痕，以确定细胞的机械性能。 该计划直接解决了许多目前的分析方法的局限性，通过详细的AFM实验和全面的分析和数值建模相结合的细胞力学性能测定。 这项工作的智力价值是，它将提高从AFM压痕数据中提取活细胞力学特性的能力。 这些信息将允许追求理解细胞机械变形和细胞行为之间的联系的长期研究目标。 更广泛的影响是通过将这些改进的建模方法和AFM实验整合到一个双层次，跨学科的细胞力学课程中来实现的。

MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF LIVING CELLS: ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY STUDIES, MODELING, AND EDUCATIONE. J. BERGER*, K. S. VEMAGANTI*, AND H. YOUUNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI, CINCINNATI OH, 45221PROPOSAL CMS-0301463AbstractThis three-year NSF award supports fundamental research in mechanical property determination of living cells. Researchers from the Colleges of Engineering and Medicine at the University of Cincinnati (UC) have assembled an interdisciplinary team to examine indentation of living cells via atomic force microscopy (AFM) for the purpose of determining cell mechanical properties. This program directly addresses many of the limitations of current analysis approaches for cell mechanical property determination through a combination of detailed AFM experiments and comprehensive analytical and numerical modeling. The intellectual merit of this work is that it will advance the ability to extract mechanical properties of living cells from AFM indentation data. This information will allow pursuit of the long-term research goal of understanding the link between cell mechanical deformations and cell behavior. Broader impact is achieved by integrating these improved modeling approaches and the AFM experiments into a dual-level, interdisciplinary Cellular Mechanics course.