Imaging Adhesion Forces and Elasticity of Lysozyme Adsorbed on Mica with theAtomic Force Microscope

摘要

The atomic force microscope (AFM), invented in 1986, has become a common scanningprobe tool for biological applications. In AFM, a sharp tip, which is mounted on a soft cantilever, is raster scanned over a sample. The deflection of the cantilever is measured by an optical lever and used for generating images of the sample's surface topography. The microscope's ability to operate in a liquid environment, especially physiologial buffers, makes it a promising tool for studying the native structure of biological material.