Nanobiomechanics of living materials

Nanobiomechanics has been emerging as a powerful technology in characterizing mechanical properties of biological materials and structures, such as proteins, cells and soft tissues, as well as for monitoring their physiological and pathological processes. These soft living materials exhibit compliant deformation behaviours and their Young's modulus normally ranges from 1 MPa to 1 GPa, which is a 1000-fold lower than those of artificial/engineering materials [1]. Owing to such low elastic moduli, the biomechanical measurement of these materials normally requires force and displacement at nanoscale resolutions.