Integrated MEMS actuation for force spectroscopy in liquid

This work aims to develop arrays of individually actuated cell force spectroscopy probes. Cross et al. (Nat. Nanotech. 2007) have shown that human cells undergo substantial mechanical changes as they become cancerous. Cell force spectroscopy using AFM has emerged as a promising candidate to measure those changes. It is believed that this method will lead to an increased understanding of the disease and potentially also to new diagnosis technologies. In order to collect a sucient amount of data, several cells must be measured. In the current state of the technology, iterations are very time-consuming. The PATLiSci project aims to parallelize these measurements by developing arrays of probes. Our task is to develop such arrays with the additional feature of individual actuation, allowing tuning of the applied force exerted by each probe.