Life Science

Mechanobiology

Apply precise, calibrated forces to cells and tissue, and read out how they respond.

Get in touch Read the introduction

How a cell senses force is one of biology’s hardest things to measure: you have to apply a known, repeatable mechanical stimulus to something a few micrometres across while recording its response in real time.

A Nanomotor® manipulator makes that practical. It can ramp a glass probe into a membrane in sub-micron steps at a controlled velocity to evoke mechanically activated currents, carry a microgripper to stretch a cell on an elastic membrane, or hold an FMS-LS force sensor to apply and read a defined force. The work behind the 2021 Nobel-recognized touch field leaned on exactly this kind of controlled poke.

1 µm/msstimulus velocity

sub-µmindentation steps

RA · IA · SAcurrent types resolved

µNforce range (FMS-LS)

Explore

Articles & videos

Short, focused reads and in-microscope footage — start with the introduction or jump to a technique.

Introduction

Probing mechanobiology

Two ways to define a mechanical stimulus, displacement and force, and why the choice shapes the experiment.

Technical deep-dives

Evoking mechanically activated currents

The 'poke' assay: indenting a patch-clamped cell to open mechanically gated channels.

A microgripper stretching an elastic membrane carrying cultured cells.

Stretching cells and tissue

Applying stretch and defined force to cells on elastic substrates and to soft tissue.

A sharp glass needle on a micromanipulator dissecting a chromosome.

Microdissection

Cutting structures as fine as chromosomes with a sharp glass needle.

Video series

Mechanical stimulation in action

Cell stretch, mechanical stimulation and microdissection, filmed under the microscope.

Tools

Products used

SEM image of the MGS2 micro-gripper approaching a cluster of microspheres, 5 µm scale bar.

Micro Gripper MGS2

A two-jaw micro-gripper that picks up, holds and repositions micro-objects inside the electron microscope.

The MM3A-LS micromanipulator set up for electrophysiology under a light microscope.

MM3A-LS

The MM3A micromanipulator configured for highly sensitive electrophysiology — long-term stability and sub-nanometre precision.

The FMS-LS force transducer fitted with a glass capillary for applying force to a sample.

FMS-LS

A force transducer for life science — apply and record known forces (e.g. to skin samples) alongside patch-clamp recordings.

Evidence

Related publications

All publications

A stomatin-domain protein essential for touch sensation in the mouse

Christiane Wetzel et al.

DOI 10.1038/nature05394

2006The Journal of Physiology 577

Mechanosensitive currents in the neurites of cultured mouse sensory neurones

Jing Hu & Gary R. Lewin

DOI 10.1113/jphysiol.2006.117648

2003Nature Neuroscience 6

A T-type calcium channel required for normal function of a mammalian mechanoreceptor

Jung-Bum Shin et al.

DOI 10.1038/nn1076

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