At the Pointy End of Mechanobiology: AFM for Transient Biomechanical Analysis

Stem cell mechanosensitivity to their external environment is a key process in regulating and governing lineage commitment. The dynamic changes stem cells undergo due to mechanotransduction can reveal the processes triggering signaling pathways, however it is a highly complex methodology to capture these transient changes in living stem cells. Here, the use of new biophysical techniques to capture these changes in situ is discussed, namely emerging atomic force microscopy techniques, which are capable of high resolution and gentle biomechanical analysis.