Vertical Light Sheet Enhanced Side-View Imaging for AFM Cell Mechanics Studies.

The ability to measure dynamic structural changes within a cell under applied load is essential for developing more accurate models of cell mechanics and mechanotransduction. Atomic force microscopy is a powerful tool for evaluating cell mechanics, but the dominant applied forces and sample strains are in the vertical direction, perpendicular to the imaging plane of standard fluorescence imaging. Here we report on a combined sideways imaging and vertical light sheet illumination system integrated with AFM.

An Automated High-throughput Array Microscope for Cancer Cell Mechanics.

Changes in cellular mechanical properties correlate with the progression of metastatic cancer along the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Few high-throughput methodologies exist that measure cell compliance, which can be used to understand the impact of genetic alterations or to screen the efficacy of chemotherapeutic agents. We have developed a novel array high-throughput microscope (AHTM) system that combines the convenience of the standard 96-well plate with the ability to image cultured cells and membrane-bound microbeads in twelve independently-focusing channels simultaneously, visiting all wells in eight steps.

Synergy between Piezo1 and Piezo2 channels confers high-strain mechanosensitivity to articular cartilage.

Diarthrodial joints are essential for load bearing and locomotion. Physiologically, articular cartilage sustains millions of cycles of mechanical loading. Chondrocytes, the cells in cartilage, regulate their metabolic activities in response to mechanical loading.

Magnetic and contrast properties of labeled platelets for magnetomotive optical coherence tomography.

This article introduces a new functional imaging paradigm that uses optical coherence tomography (OCT) to detect rehydrated, lyophilized platelets (RL platelets) that are in the preclinical trial stage and contain superparamagnetic iron oxides (SPIOs) approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.