FluidFM^® ADD-ON for your
Nanosurf AFM System

POWERFUL & AFFORDABLE UPGRADE SOLUTION

Empower your Nanosurf 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 available for the Nanosurf FlexAFM and CoreAFM platforms and a unique integrated FPM solution on the FlexAFM
Fully integrated system with user-friendly FluidFM® ARYA operator software
Integrated solution with optical, force, and fluidic control
Predefined experimental workflows
Conduct original research at the frontiers of science

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TAILORED

AFM Solutions

8+

AFM applications

100% AFM

capabilities

CUSTOMIZED

solutions possible

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 cell-substrate adhesion forces can be measured — one order of magnitude
Longer cell-substrate interaction times can be studied — orders of magnitude
Much shorter measurement time / Many more adhesion measurements — factor 20

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Video courtesy of Nanosurf AG.

Study of tumor progression and metastasis with cell-cell adhesion forces

Study with a Flex-FPM by Dr. Noa Cohen, group of Prof. Tanya Konry, Northeastern University in Boston, on cell-cell adhesion forces to gain more insights into tumor progression and metastasis (Cohen et al., 2017):

Optical images showing A) a single cell to be picked up by a FluidFM probe B) the cell aspired to the cantilever and C) the FluidFM probe with aspired cell during a cell-cell adhesion measurement. Data/image courtesy of Tanya Konry group, Northeastern University, Boston, USA.

A) Typical force curves between a MCF7 cell aspried to the cantilever and non-cancerous, firbroblast (HS5) on the substrate at different contact times. B) Development of the force with contact time between the cells. Data/image courtesy of Tanya Konry group, Northeastern University, Boston, USA.

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.

Main advantages of FluidFM:

Handling — Pre-coated beads and easy mounting
 Experiment design — Same cantilever and different beads
 Time — Fast mounting and bead exchange
 Easy — Intuitive touchscreen-based workflow environment

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Colloidal spectroscopy of HeLa cells using FluidFM

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

Left image: Map of Young's modulus (blue area is on glass.
Right image: Approach curves (force in nN versus tip-sample distance in µm) for the locations indicted with a star on the left: on glass (blue), harder cell areas (orange) and softer cell areas (black).

Image courtesy of Nanosurf AG.

Spotting & lithography

Deposit (bio)molecules and particles at defined locations with micrometer accuracy and with femtoliter volumes. A wide range of inks can be deposited in both air and liquid environment - from water to honey, solvents, acids, bases and more. For nanoscale and biomedicine research, bio-sensors and biomaterials.

Creating grids & patterns

Automatically varying back pressure and contac time in a grid-like pattern (3 dots per condition), spot sizes can be quickly optimized. Image courtesy of Nanosurf AG.

Nanosurf logo written in air with a solution containing approximately 50% glycerol; back pressure 200 mbar. Image courtesy of Nanosurf AG.

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.

The video shows a FluidFM injection of Lucifer Yellow, a fluorescent tracer, into CHO cells with CoreAFM DIMO (courtesy of Nanosurf AG) . 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.