Journal ArticleDOI
Small cantilevers for force spectroscopy of single molecules
TLDR
In this article, a simple process was used to fabricate small rectangular cantilevers out of silicon nitride, with lengths of 9-50 μm, widths of 3-5 μm and thickness of 86 and 102 nm.Abstract:
We have used a simple process to fabricate small rectangular cantilevers out of silicon nitride. They have lengths of 9–50 μm, widths of 3–5 μm, and thicknesses of 86 and 102 nm. We have added metallic reflector pads to some of the cantilever ends to maximize reflectivity while minimizing sensitivity to temperature changes. We have characterized small cantilevers through their thermal spectra and show that they can measure smaller forces than larger cantilevers with the same spring constant because they have lower coefficients of viscous damping. Finally, we show that small cantilevers can be used for experiments requiring large measurement bandwidths, and have used them to unfold single titin molecules over an order of magnitude faster than previously reported with conventional cantilevers.read more
Citations
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Force measurements with the atomic force microscope: Technique, interpretation and applications
TL;DR: The atomic force microscope (AFM) is not only used to image the topography of solid surfaces at high resolution but also to measure force-versus-distance curves as discussed by the authors, which provide valuable information on local material properties such as elasticity, hardness, Hamaker constant, adhesion and surface charge densities.
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Translating biomolecular recognition into nanomechanics.
Jürgen Fritz,Marko Baller,Marko Baller,Hans Peter Lang,Hans Peter Lang,H. Rothuizen,Peter Vettiger,Ernst Meyer,H. J. Güntherodt,Ch. Gerber,James K. Gimzewski +10 more
TL;DR: The specific transduction, via surface stress changes, of DNA hybridization and receptor-ligand binding into a direct nanomechanical response of microfabricated cantilevers is reported, demonstrating the wide-ranging applicability of nanomechamical transduction to detect biomolecular recognition.
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Mechanochemistry: the mechanical activation of covalent bonds.
TL;DR: A survey of the classical works in mechanochemistry is given and the key mechanochemical phenomena into perspective with recent results from atomic force microscopy and quantum molecular dynamics simulations are put into perspective.
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Detection and localization of single molecular recognition events using atomic force microscopy
TL;DR: The current methodology for molecular recognition studies using the AFM is described, with an emphasis on strategies available for preparing AFM tips and samples, and on procedures for detecting and localizing single molecular recognition events.
Journal ArticleDOI
Comparative advantages of mechanical biosensors
TL;DR: The general issues that will be critical to the success of any type of next-generation mechanical biosensor are explained, such as the need to improve intrinsic device performance, fabrication reproducibility and system integration, and the need for a greater understanding of analyte-sensor interactions on the nanoscale.
References
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Atomic force microscope
TL;DR: The atomic force microscope as mentioned in this paper is a combination of the principles of the scanning tunneling microscope and the stylus profilometer, which was proposed as a method to measure forces as small as 10-18 N. As one application for this concept, they introduce a new type of microscope capable of investigating surfaces of insulators on an atomic scale.
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Calibration of atomic‐force microscope tips
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe a simple, nondestructive procedure for measuring the force constant, resonant frequency, and quality factor of an AFM cantilever spring and the effective radius of curvature of an AU tip.
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Reversible Unfolding of Individual Titin Immunoglobulin Domains by AFM
TL;DR: Single-molecule atomic force microscopy was used to investigate the mechanical properties of titin, the giant sarcomeric protein of striated muscle, and refolding of immunoglobulin domains was observed.
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Irreversibility and Generalized Noise
TL;DR: In this article, a relation between the generalized resistance and the generalized forces in linear dissipative systems is obtained, which forms the extension of the Nyquist relation for the voltage fluctuations in electrical impedances.
Journal ArticleDOI
Dynamic strength of molecular adhesion bonds.
Evan Evans,Ken Ritchie +1 more
TL;DR: How Brownian dynamics can help bridge the gap between molecular dynamics and probe tests is described, which shows that bond strength progresses through three dynamic regimes of loading rate.