News
Rheological measurements to understand Cell-ECM interactions with SENSOCELL
An interstinAn intersting project story: the team led by Dr Pere Roca-Cusachs at IBEC is already achieving important goals and performing amazing experiments. They have been doing rheological measurements to understand Cell-ECM interactions and see how they can alter the mechanical properties of the cell cytoeskeleton with SENSOCELL.
EMBO | EMBL Symposium : Life at the Periphery
The first event of this 2021 in which IMPETUX will be present will be virtual and will be the EMBO|EMBL Symposium.: Life at the Periphery: Mechanobiology of the Cell Surface.
We will be participating with a talk and a virtual booth. Registration deadline: 8 Feb 2021
Microrheology experiments with IMPETUX’s exclusive patented technology
Here, we share an interesting preprint from Dr. Betz’s group entitled where the authors use optical tweezers to show intracellular softening, fluidification and decrease of active forces in mitosis that is mediated by a surprising role switch between microtubules and actin.
SENSOCELL to study mechanical properties of neurons during C. elegans locomotion
This 2021 starts with a new preprint available from the Neurophotonics & Mechanical Systems Biology group at ICFO whose main research goal is to understand cell mechanical properties for health and disease on the molecular and systems level using Caenorhabditis (C.) elegans.
The characterization of cell membrane elasticity as a new potential biomarker for leukemia cells with IMPETUX technology
Researchers from the Optics Research Unit at De La Salle University and AIST-Osaka University have recently published and study where they have used a customized optical trapping system from IMPETUX to characterize cell membrane elasticity.
Measuring forces, deformation and mechanical properties of cell nucleus with SENSOCELL
Researchers from Insitut de Ciències Fotòniques (ICFO) , Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) and University of Applied Science Upper Austria have recently published an amazing Science article in where they show that the nucleus, translates cell shape changes into a deformation signal regulating cell behavior.
Events
EMBO | EMBL Symposium : Life at the Periphery
The first event of this 2021 in which IMPETUX will be present will be virtual and will be the EMBO|EMBL Symposium.: Life at the Periphery: Mechanobiology of the Cell Surface.
We will be participating with a talk and a virtual booth. Registration deadline: 8 Feb 2021
CONFERENCES: Nanoengineering for Mechanobiology
IMPETUX will be present at the Nanoengineering for Mechanobiology symposium, hold on from November 30 to December 3, 2020 on-line.
We will be participating with an interesting talk on Monday the 30th of November
Cytoskeleton Day in Paris
IMPETUX will be present at the Cytoskeleton Day, hold on November 10, 2020 in Paris. We will be sharing interesting data acquired with SENSOCELL, the unique optical tweezers platform for mechanobiology, with a short talk at 11:15 h If you are interested in our latest developments an applications of SENSOCELL, do not hesitate to join us! Where → PARIS CYTOSKELETON DAY: A meet held entirely online When → Tuesday, November 10, 2020, at 11:15h How → Register here More news:
Scientific Publications
Here you will find useful material published related with IMPETUX’s technology and products.
Publications from IMPETUX’s customers:
- Corbyn Jones, Mauricio Gomez, Ryan M. Muoio, Alex Vidal, Anthony Mcknight, Nicholas D. Brubaker, Wylie W. Ahmed. “Stochastic force dynamics of the model microswimmer Chlamydomonas reinhardtii: Active forces and energetics“. ioRxiv 2011.12415. This article is a preprint.
In this work, the authors use a customized optical trapping system from IMPETUX to study the stochastic force dynamics of a model microswimmer (Chlamydomonas reinhardtii). In particular, they directly measure the stochastic forces generated by the microswimmer using an optical trap via the photon momentum method.
In this work, the authors use optical tweezers to show intracellular softening, fluidification and decrease of active forces in mitosis that is mediated by a surprising role switch between microtubules and actin.
Impetux’s force sensor is used to measure the cytoplasm’s fluidity and sitffness changes of dividing cells.
It is the first time that the cell mechanics is characterized during mitosis from the inside
- This article is a preprint.
In this work, researchers used our SENSOCELL Optical Tweezers platform in combination with Confocal microscopy to study neuron Ca2+ dynamics during axon membrane tether extrusion experiments.
- V. Venturi, F. Pezzano, F. Català-Castro, H.- M. Häkkinen, S. Jiménez-Delgado, M. Colomer-Rosell, M. Marro-Sánchez, Q. Tolosa-Ramon, S. Paz-López, M. A. Valverde, P. Loza-Alvarez, M. Krieg, S. Wieser and V. Ruprecht, “The nucleus measures shape deformation for cellular proprioception and regulates adaptive morphodynamics,” SCIENCE | 16 Oct 2020: Vol. 370, Issue 6514, eaba2644. DOI: 10.1126/science.aba2644
For additional information, have a look at:
- R. Ombid, G. Oyong, E. Cabrera, W. Espulgar, M. Saito, E. Tamiya, and R. Pobre, “In-vitro study of monocytic THP-1 leukemia cell membrane elasticity with a single-cell microfluidic-assisted optical trapping system,” Biomed. Opt. Express 11, 6027-6037 (2020).
In this study, the authors used a customized optical trapping system from IMPETUX to characterize cell membrane elasticity as a new potential biomarker for leukemia cells, comparing measurements for cells treated with anti-cancer drugs and untreated cells.
- R. Meissner, N. Oliver and C.Denz. “Optical Force Sensing with Cylindrical Microcontainers“.Part. Part. Syst. Charact. 2018, 1800062.
- F.Català, F. Marsà, M. Montes Usategui, A. Farré & E. Martín-Badosa. “Influence of experimental parameters on the laser heating of an optical trap“. Sci. Rep. 7, 16052; doi:10.1038/s41598-017-15904-6 (2017).
- Català, F. et al. “Extending calibration-free force measurements to optically-trapped rod-shaped samples“. Sci. Rep. 7, 42960; doi: 10.1038/srep42960 (2017).
Optical trapping has become an optimal choice for biological research at the microscale due to its noninvasiveperformance and accessibility for quantitative studies, especially on the forces involved inbiological processes. However, reliable force measurements depend on the calibration of the opticaltraps, which is different for each experiment and hence requires high control of the local variables,especially of the trapped object geometry. Many biological samples have an elongated, rod-likeshape, such as chromosomes, intracellular organelles (e.g., peroxisomes), membrane tubules, certainmicroalgae, and a wide variety of bacteria and parasites. This type of samples often requires severaloptical traps to stabilize and orient them in the correct spatial direction, making it more difficult todetermine the total force applied. Here, we manipulate glass microcylinders with holographic opticaltweezers and show the accurate measurement of drag forces by calibration-free direct detection ofbeam momentum.
- R. Bola, F. Català. M. Montes-Usategui, E. Martín-Badosa. “Optical tweezers for force measurements and rheological studies on biological samples”.15th workshop on Information Optics (WIO), 2016.
Measuring forces inside living cells is still a challenge due the characteristics of the trapped organelles (non-spherical, unknown size and index of refraction) and the cell cytoplasm surrounding them heterogeneous and dynamic, non-purely viscous). Here, we show how two very recent methods overcome these limitations: on the one hand, forces can be measured in such environment by the direct detection of changes in the light momentum; on the other hand, an active-passive calibration technique provides both the stiffness of the optical trap as well as the local viscoelastic properties of the cell cytoplasm.
Papers about IMPETUX’s technology:
- Franziska Strasser, Simon Moser, Monika Ritsch-Marte, and Gregor Thalhammer, “Direct measurement of individual optical forces in ensembles of trapped particles,” Optica 8, 79-87 (2021)
In this work the authors have developed a technique that allows to combine the “momentum method” for measuring forces with multiple holographic optical traps.
- Martín-Badosa, F. Català, J. Mas, M. Montes-Usategui, A. Farré, F. Marsà. “Force measurement in the manipulation of complex samples with holographic optical tweezers” 15th workshop on Information Optics (WIO), 2016.
- Derek Craig, Alison McDonald, Michael Mazilu, Helen Rendall, Frank Gunn-Moore, and Kishan Dholakia. “ Enhanced Optical Manipulation of Cells Using Antireflection Coated Microparticles”.ACS Photonics, 2 (10), pp 1403–1409, (2015).
In molecular studies, an optically trapped bead may be functionalized to attach to a specific molecule, whereas in cell studies, direct manipulation with the optical field is usually employed. Using this approach, several methods may be used to measure forces with an optical trap. However, each has its limitations and requires an accurate knowledge of the sample parameters.6,7 In particular, force measurements can be challenging when working with nonspherical particles or in environments with an inhomogeneous viscosity, such as inside the cell. Recent developments in the field are moving toward obtaining direct force measurements by detecting light momentum changes. For this approach, the calibration factor only comes from the detection instrumentation and negates the requirement to recalibrate for changes in experimental conditions”.
- Xing Ma, Anita Jannasch, Urban-Raphael Albrecht, Kersten Hahn, Albert Miguel-López, Erik Schäffer, and Samuel Sánchez. “Enzyme-Powered Hollow Mesoporous Janus Nanomotors”. Nano Lett., 15 (10), pp 7043–7050, (2015).
“Using optical tweezers, we directly measured a holding force of 64 ± 16 fN, which was necessary to counteract the effective self-propulsion force generated by a single nanomotor. The successful demonstration of biocompatible enzyme-powered active nanomotors using biologically benign fuels has a great potential for future biomedical applications.”
- Michael A. Taylor, Muhammad Waleed, Alexander B. Stilgoe, Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop and Warwick P. Bowen. “Enhanced optical trapping via structured scattering“. Nature Photonics 9,669–673 (2015)
- Gregor Thalhammer, Lisa Obmascher, and Monika Ritsch-Marte, “Direct measurement of axial optical forces“.Optics Express, Vol. 23, Issue 5, pp. 6112-6129 (2015)
- Y. Jun, S.K. Tripathy, B.R.J. Narayanareddy, M. K. Mattson-Hoss, S.P. Gross, “Calibration of Optical Tweezers for In Vivo Force Measurements: How do Different Approaches Compare?”. Biophysical Journal, V 107, 1474-1484 (2014).
Here, the authors present a comparison between two different methods for measuring forces inside living cells and provide measurements of the stall force of kinesin in vivo using the momentum-based approach. More information at: http://bioweb.bio.uci.edu/sgross/publications.html
- A. Farré, E. Martín-Badosa, and M. Montes-Usategui, “The measurement of light momentum shines the path towards the cell”, Opt. Pur Apl. 47, 239-248 (2014).
- A. Farré, F. Marsà, and M. Montes-Usategui, “A force measurement instrument for optical tweezers based on the detection of light momentum changes”, Proc. SPIE 9164, 916412 (2014).
- J. Mas, A. Farré, J. Sancho-Parramon, E. Martín-Badosa, and M. Montes-Usategui, “Force measurements with optical tweezers inside living cells”, Proc. SPIE 9164, 91640U (2014).
- F. Català, F. Marsà, A. Farré, M. Montes-Usategui, and E. Martín-Badosa, “Momentum measurements with holographic optical tweezers for exploring force detection capabilities on irregular samples”, Proc. SPIE 9164, 91640A (2014).
- A. Farré, F. Marsà, and M. Montes-Usategui, “Optimized back-focal-plane interferometry directly measures forces of optically trapped particles” Opt. Express 20, 12270-12291 (2012).
This manuscript shows the relation between the determination of momentum measurements and back-focal-plane interferometry, and details how to obtain the force response of the sensor both from first principles and from its connection with trap stiffness calibration.
- A. Farré and M. Montes-Usategui, “A force detection technique for single-beam optical traps based on direct measurement of light momentum changes” Opt. Express 18, 11955-11968 (2010).
In this work, the authors show the feasibility of combining optical tweezers (single-beam gradient traps) with the determination of forces using the measurement of the light momentum change.