FluidFM^® ADD-ON for your
Bruker AFM System

POWERFUL & AFFORDABLE UPGRADE SOLUTION

Empower your Bruker AFM beyond imaging.

The FluidFM ADD-ON greatly extends the application scope of classical atomic force microscopes (AFMs) beyond imaging and force spectroscopy. From single cell biology to material sciences – benefit from more than 8 FluidFM applications using the AFM you already own.

The FluidFM ADD-ON is compatible with the Bruker BioScope Resolve AFM and all JPK NanoWizard®, ForceRobot® and CellHesion® AFMs
Software integration of FluidFM into AFM software
Sader based cantilever calibration fully functional for FluidFM probes
Higher throughput for cell adhesion measurements with FluidFM

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8+ FluidFM applications

AFM applications - single cell adhesion, spotting, colloidal spectroscopy, single cell bacteria adhesion

Single cell / microbe force spectroscopy

Main advantages of FluidFM:

For bacteria/microbe and suspended cell adhesion
Higher throughput also for adherent cells
Beneficial if detachment forces are above 20 nN
Also compatible with CellHesion module

A) cell is selected B) Cell is detached from surface C) Resulting force spectroscopy. Image courtesy of Bruker.

Cell - surface interactions are quantified with the BioScope resolve and a FluidFM micropipette. Here with a H431 cell on a 8x8 array. Original video length ~10 min. Video courtesy of Bruker.

Colloidal Spectroscopy

FluidFM probes allow to pick up colloids from sub micrometer to 100 micrometer in diameter, either to quantify mechanical properties of a substrate or to study the colloid itself. The colloid can be replaced within minutes once it is dirty or a different size/functionality is desired.

Pick up of a bead for Force Mapping on living cells

A colloid is picked up by a FluidFM probe and used to measure a force map on a living cell. The FluidFM microfluidic control is fully integrated into the AFM software.

Video: The bead is held with -400 mbar while the measurement takes place. The video is accelerated (original length ~9 min) and shows a full force map cycle. (Video courtesy of Bruker)
Image: (a,b,c): Phase contrast image of living vero cells, the FluidFM micropipette and 11 µm polystyrene bead before (a), during (b) and after pickup (c). (d) Overlay of optical image with Height map using the polystyrene bead. (e, f) Height and apparent stiffness map of two cells. (Image courtesy of Bruker)

Spotting

A wide range of inks can be deposited from water to honey, solvents, acids, bases and more. For nanoscale research, bio-sensors, biomaterials and more.

Creating droplet arrays from fL to nL

In this video the letters JPK are spotted onto a glass dish in air (courtesy of Bruker). These femtoliter sized water droplets quickly evaporate under ambient conditions. For longer lasting droplets a bit of glycerol can be added to the ink. However, often it is desired that only the proteins or nanoparticle payload stays on the sample, while the carrier solution evaporates.

Reproducibility of FluidFM printed spots

Here 3x4 spots of 30 nm gold nanoparticles are deposited with a FluidFM probe
They are later scanned with the same probe
The reproducibility of all 12 spots is very high
The slope channel is extremely useful to calculate the spot area and volume
The 30nm Au nano particles are individual or aggregated, and typically slightly to the edge of the spot

The height and slope channel of 30nm Au nanoparticles, printed with a FluidFM nanopipette. Image courtesy of Bruker.

Optical image of the deposited spots; 2x2 maps with 3x3 µm2, gap 1.5 µm. Image courtesy of Bruker.

Print & scan with the same probe

AFM scans are also possible with the FluidFM nanopipette used for printing. Yet doubled features occur due to the tip geometry, which features corners around the opening. 2 of which at the contact level. These doubled feature effect can be avoided by tilting the AFM.

First structure: Motors A/B/C = 0 µm
Second structure: Motors A/B = 700 µm; C = 0 µm,

Images courtesy of Bruker.

Single cell injection

Introduce any payload into the cell of choice.

Typical injected volumes range from a few dozen to 200 fL, a small fraction of the overall cell volume of 4 to 5 pL. If needed the injected volume can be quantified with fL precision for each injected cell with a fluorescence intensity based approach.

In this video four cells are injected with propidium iodide, which stains the DNA fluorescently (courtesy of Bruker). It is common that any payload e.g. CRISPR is co-injected with a fluorescent tracer to have a live feedback on both the injection success and the injected volume.