Volume 20, Issue 6 pp. 448-458
Review

High-speed atomic force microscopy for observing dynamic biomolecular processes

Toshio Ando

Corresponding Author

Toshio Ando

Department of Physics, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan

CREST, JST, Sanban-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0075, Japan

Department of Physics, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan.Search for more papers by this author
Takayuki Uchihashi

Takayuki Uchihashi

Department of Physics, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan

CREST, JST, Sanban-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0075, Japan

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Noriyuki Kodera

Noriyuki Kodera

Department of Physics, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan

CREST, JST, Sanban-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0075, Japan

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Daisuke Yamamoto

Daisuke Yamamoto

Department of Physics, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan

CREST, JST, Sanban-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0075, Japan

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Masaaki Taniguchi

Masaaki Taniguchi

Department of Physics, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan

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Atsushi Miyagi

Atsushi Miyagi

Department of Physics, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan

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Hayato Yamashita

Hayato Yamashita

Department of Physics, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan

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First published: 27 September 2007
Citations: 75

Abstract

The atomic force microscope (AFM) is unique in its capability to capture high-resolution images of biological samples in liquids. This capability will become more valuable to biological sciences if AFM additionally acquires an ability of high-speed imaging, because ‘direct and real-time visualization’ is a straightforward and powerful means to understand biomolecular processes. With conventional AFMs, it takes more than a minute to capture an image, while biomolecular processes generally occur on a millisecond timescale or less. In order to fill this large gap, various efforts have been carried out in the past decade. Here, we review these past efforts, describe the current state of the capability and limitations of high-speed AFM, and discuss possibilities that may break the limitations and lead to the development of a truly useful high-speed AFM for biological sciences. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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