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High‐speed atomic force microscopy for observing dynamic biomolecular processes
Author(s) -
Ando Toshio,
Uchihashi Takayuki,
Kodera Noriyuki,
Yamamoto Daisuke,
Taniguchi Masaaki,
Miyagi Atsushi,
Yamashita Hayato
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of molecular recognition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.401
H-Index - 79
eISSN - 1099-1352
pISSN - 0952-3499
DOI - 10.1002/jmr.843
Subject(s) - atomic force microscopy , millisecond , nanotechnology , computer science , visualization , high resolution , materials science , physics , artificial intelligence , geology , remote sensing , astronomy
Abstract The atomic force microscope (AFM) is unique in its capability to capture high‐resolution images of biological samples in liquids. This capability will become more valuable to biological sciences if AFM additionally acquires an ability of high‐speed imaging, because ‘direct and real‐time visualization’ is a straightforward and powerful means to understand biomolecular processes. With conventional AFMs, it takes more than a minute to capture an image, while biomolecular processes generally occur on a millisecond timescale or less. In order to fill this large gap, various efforts have been carried out in the past decade. Here, we review these past efforts, describe the current state of the capability and limitations of high‐speed AFM, and discuss possibilities that may break the limitations and lead to the development of a truly useful high‐speed AFM for biological sciences. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.