This first book on high-speed atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM) is
intended for students and biologists who want to use HS-AFM in their
research. It provides straightforward explanations of the principle and
techniques of AFM and HS-AFM. Numerous examples of HS-AFM studies on
proteins demonstrate how to apply this new form of microscopy to
specific biological problems. Several precautions for successful imaging
and the preparation of cantilever tips and substrate surfaces will
greatly benefit first-time users of HS-AFM. In turn, the instrumentation
techniques detailed in Chapter 4 can be skipped, but will be useful for
engineers and scientists who want to develop the next generation of
high-speed scanning probe microscopes for biology.
The book is intended to facilitate the first-time use of this new
technique, and to inspire students and researchers to tackle their own
specific biological problems by directly observing dynamic events
occurring in the nanoscopic world. Microscopy in biology has recently
entered a new era with the advent of high-speed atomic force microscopy
(HS-AFM). Unlike optical microscopy, electron microscopy, and
conventional slow AFM, it allows us to directly observe biological
molecules in physiological environments. Molecular "movies" created
using HS-AFM can directly reveal how molecules behave and operate,
without the need for subsequent complex analyses and roundabout
interpretations. It also allows us to directly monitor morphological
change in live cells, and dynamic molecular events occurring on the
surfaces of living bacteria and intracellular organelles. As HS-AFM
instruments were recently commercialized, in the near future HS-AFM is
expected to become a common tool in biology, and will enhance and
accelerate our understanding of biological phenomena.
