[Zurück]

S. Fossati, L. Neutsch, R. Glattauer, F. Gabor, F. Aumayr, I. Gebeshuber:
"In situ imaging of targeted delivery of drugs to living cells with AFM";
Poster: Zurich Center for Imaging Science and Technology (CIMST), Summer School on Biomedical Imaging, ETH Zurich/CH; 01.09.2008.

Ambient atomic force microscopy (AFM) performed in a closed fluid cell provides a convenient method to investigate the interaction of (functionalized) nanoparticles and living cells. Such studies are of interest for targeted drug delivery in medicine.
Nanoparticles were characterized regarding their mechanical properties and the quality of the surface modification. Cells were grown in a monolayer and investigated in buffer solution
with contact and intermittent contact mode AFM.
Given these promising initial results two lines of research are going to be followed:
. A time series of the uptake of the nanoparticles by the cells shall be recorded.
. Cantilevers functionalized with the surface-modified nanoparticles shall scan the living cell surface to determine any site specific binding forces.
With this method we might succeed in providing a quantitative analysis of binding strength correlated with the
type of functionalization of the respective nanoparticles.

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