Atomic force microscope integrated with an inverted optical microscope

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Coupled atomic force/fluorescence microscopy offers extraordinary possibilities to analyze biological processes at a high spatial and temporal resolution. Such a modern technique is at the moment not available within the University Duisburg-Essen (UDE) and its establishment is not only desirable but even necessary for the development of high-quality research projects. Currently, there is only one atomic force microscope available in the Faculty of Biology and accessible to other groups of the UDE. Although of excellent performance for topographical characterization of nanostructures, this instrument is not suitable for analysis of larger biological samples, such as cells, and its low temporal resolution severely limits the study of biological processes in live samples and in real-time. The coupled atomic force/fluorescence microscope applied here would provide the spatial and temporal resolution necessary to satisfy this request, offering also the unique possibility to investigate both the surface and interior of cells, by coupling the topographical/force signal with an optical readout. In the past few years, the demand on high-resolution techniques at the single-cell or single-particle level has tremendously increased within the Faculty of Biology of the UDE, particularly thanks to the successful DFG-funding of the CRC initiative and the consequent establishment of challenging cooperation projects among biologists and chemists of the University Duisburg-Essen. For this reason, such an instrument will provide the technological tools necessary to face these projects in a suitable manner, with the aim of performing high-quality research.