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C. Grünberger, I. Gebeshuber:
"From red blood cells to green algae: biophysics performed with the Atomic Force Microscope (AFM)";
Vortrag: Istituto di Biofiscia, CNR Pisa, Pisa/I; 28.11.2006.

Blood donated by healthy and erythropoietin (EPO) treated patients was investigated by atomic force spectroscopy. The dried blood smears showed no differences in the absolute
stiffness values. However, the stiffness standard deviation of the red blood cells of EPO treated patients was significantly larger.
Furthermore, in one of the 26 investigated blood samples, alternations in the shape of the red blood cells were found. Interestingly enough, subsequent medical examination of the corresponding donor revealed a case of diabetes.
Dried Euglena gracilis cells and cell parts were imaged and compared to SEM and TEM results from the literature. Besides good correlation concerning global topography, additional features usually lost in the preparation process for conventional SEM were found. These include for example details of the mucus spread along the ridges of the Euglena pellicle. The ultimate goal of our studies concerning Euglena is the characterization of the photoreceptor crystal at molecular resolution.