A hollow cantilever with three capabilities in one probe.
A hollow AFM cantilever connected to a microfluidics pressure controller. Force sensing, liquid handling, and nanoscale spatial targeting, unified in a single instrument.
Force sensing
< 1 nN Force sensitivity
The cantilever detects the exact moment it contacts the cell membrane, then holds penetration force at sub-nanonewton resolution throughout the interaction.
Bidirectional microfluidics
< pL volume control
A microchannel runs through the cantilever, connected to a pressure controller. Apply positive pressure to inject; negative pressure to extract. Volumes down to the femtoliter range. Viscosity range: 1–10,000 cP.
Aperture precision
< 5 nm Z-resolution
A sub-micron aperture — from 300 nm to 8 µm depending on probe type. Targets one identified cell under the microscope, not a well or a population average.
Live-Cell Imaging
Same-Cell phenotypic quantification
The probe works on an open dish under the objective, so the optical path is never interrupted. Brightfield, fluorescence and reporter-based readouts stay available while the cell is being accessed.
Engineered for precision. Manufactured for reproducibility.
Every FluidFM probe is a hollow cantilever with a precisely defined aperture, the point where force-sensing meets microfluidics at the single-cell level. Three probe families cover the full range of FluidFM applications.
REVERSIBLE CELL IMMOBILIZATION
FluidFM Micropipette
Larger aperture, higher volume throughput. Built for cell handling, dispensing, and pick-and-place work.
Aperture: 2 / 4 / 8 µm
PRECISE FLUIDIC CONTROL
FluidFM Nanosyringe
Sharp apex for gentle insertion into living cells. Built for repeated same-cell sampling and for delivering cargo into the cytoplasm or nucleus.
Aperture: 550 / 800 / 1200 nm
LOCALIZED LIQUID DISPENSING
FluidFM Nanopipette
Sub-micron aperture for the finest targeting. Built for single-molecule and localized delivery work.
Aperture: 300 nm
Nanometer-level precision, every probe.
Every FluidFM cantilever is manufactured to the tolerances required for precise Same-Cell experimentation. Precision Plus probes are manufactured to the highest aperture specification in the FluidFM portfolio. Every probe is functionally verified before shipment.
Cleanroom production
All probes are manufactured in a certified cleanroom facility. Contamination-free.
Thorough QC process
Every cantilever passes dimensional and functional quality control before shipping.
Individual SEM image per probe
Each cantilever ships with its own scanning electron microscope image on record.
Five modes. Same instrument. Same experiment.
Switch between modes without changing your setup. Click any mode to explore its capabilities.
Nano-Injection
Deliver any cargo, from nanoparticles and viruses to proteins and small molecules, directly into the cytoplasm or nucleus of a single cell with femtoliter precision.
Sampling
Collect subcellular biopsies without killing the cell. The non-destructive extraction workflow is the foundation of Live-seq, enabling the temporal analysis of the transcriptome, proteome, or metabolome from the same living cell over time.
Pick & Place
Select, sort, and isolate individual living cells with ease. Using gentle suction, the FluidFM probe can pick up a single adherent or suspension cell and place it in a new location.
Single-Cell Adhesion
Quantify the adhesion forces of single cells, bacteria, or colloids. Automated recording of hundreds of force curves provides statistically robust datasets for mechanobiology research.
Dispensing & Nanoprinting
Deposit femtoliter to nanoliter volumes in defined patterns. Print from image, print from file, or pattern in-situ, from sub-micrometer features to centimeter-scale areas.
Intracellular access
Reversible immobilization
