Probing cell surface interactions using atomic force microscope cantilevers functionalized for quantum dot-enabled Förster resonance energy transfer - Kenith Meissner (Journal of Biomedical Optics, 2009)
This paper reports a method for cell surface profiling using near-field optical techniques coupled at the tip of an atomic force microscope (AFM). The technique couples Förster resonance energy transfer with microsphere AFM-based cell force measurements for combined biochemical/force profiling of focal adhesions in vascular smooth muscle cells. This work is focused on the study of cardiovascular disease. Combined with an earlier group paper (Pang et al., 2008), the work resulted in an NSF Interdisciplinary Research grant to develop cell surface profiling techniques. This work has led to numerous presentations and an invited talk at Microcirculation 2011 – Joint Meeting of the ESM and GfMVB.