Feeling Like A Pro In Atomic Force Microscopy

Feeling like a pro in Atomic Force Microscopy

...to be honest I probably should really tell myself that at this point I really am the professional in this method. After 4 years of working with 2 different atomic force microscopes, now I started with a 3rd one, again a new type from a different company.

Only after 2 hours of training on the new machine, I could observe membranes of resistant bacteria all by myself. The membranes are the yellow pancakes sitting flat on the dark support. They are less than 8 nm high (0.000000008 m), as is visible in the blue and red profile lines. So it's super tricky to actually see them. Atomic force microscope touches the surface of my membranes and surrounding support with a tiny tip like with a finger and reconstructs the surface topology. On top of the small size, the cellular membranes are super soft so also the touching finger must be super soft to see them without damaging them.