Optical tweezers platform – SENSOCELL
A novel concept of optical tweezers for cell mechanobiology research:
- Force measurements in vitro, in vivo or in situ.
- No calibrations needed.
- Up to 256 optical traps.
- Compatible with Fluorescence Imaging.
- Automated & customizable routines.

SENSOCELL is the unique optical tweezers platform that allows measuring biological forces inside living cells and tissues without needing any previous calibration by the user.
IMPETUX’s optical tweezers technology enables extensive control over multiple independent optical traps and simultaneous force measurements in an easy and speedy manner by non-expert users.
Interested in a demo? Contact us!
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Applications overview System description & features LightAce software & videos
Force measurements in vitro & in vivo. Not limited to microspheres!
No calibrations needed!
Up to 256 simultaneous traps!
Are you thinking in a different application? Contact us and we will be happy to discuss it!
What solutions offers SENSOCELL optical tweezers to my research projects?
We work closely with our customers and collaborators to give them the best solutions for their research challenges. Use our predefined & customizable automatized macros or your own-developed routines to perform unprecedented cell mechanobiology experiments in a fast, simple and flexible manner. Check our applications list to see the potential of our technology.
SENSOCELL Optical Tweezers: Main Features & Applications Overview
Precise, extensive and flexible control over multiple traps & simultaneous direct force measurements.
A wide variety of imaging techniques compatiblity.
SENSOCELL is an add-on instrument for Nikon inverted microscopes compatible with different imaging techniques including BrightField, epi-FL, TIRF, phase contrast or Confocal microscopy. It can be either installed on a preexisting microscope or offered by us in an integrated platform including a new Nikon Ti-2 inverted microscope. The optical tweezers platform is composed by:
- An optical manipulation module allowing the generation and manipulation of up to 256 simultaneous optical traps. Trap steering is performed at 25 kHz frequency thanks to its fast acousto-optic deflection (AOD) technology. Users can apply predefined oscillations and/or trajectories over multiple traps or control them using the “click & drag” mode.
- A force sensor module allowing: simultaneous direct force measurements over multiple independent traps in the X-Y or Z plane; obtaining accurate determination of the trapped particles positions; applying our implemented Force Clamp mode to have absolute control of pulling and pushing force rates exerted by the optical traps. Furthermore, the sensor continuously monitors laser power at the sample plane giving maximum control over the irradiation levels imposed on your samples*.
- A rack mount case with all electronics and an ultra-stable single-frequency laser source (5W, 1064 nm) assuring minimal RIN noise levels for frequency-dependent studies.
- A fully operational Ti2 Nikon inverted microscope (customizable configuration). Installation on preexisting Nikon inverted microscopes is also an option.
*Prevent cell damage thanks to our optimized optical trapping efficiency and force sensing technology (factor 2-3 compared to standard optical tweezers technology).

Up to 256 traps

Click & drag

Fluorescence imaging compatibility

No calibrations

Custom oscillations

Single-frequency laser

Force clamp

Custom trajectories

Prevent cell damage
New feature! Trap pattern morphing.
Generate trap patterns of your choice and apply transitions between them to create your desired morphing sequences.
Discover LightAce, our powerful, flexible and user-friendly control software suite for SENSOCELL optical tweezers.
LightAce is our control software suite for SENSOCELL based on the integration of LABVIEW (National Instruments), ImageJ and μ-Manager. Easy and intuitive to work with, LightAce will allow you to:
- Take control over multiple optical traps and read real time force & position data for each trapped target.; apply force clamping or launch built-in routines. Simply selecting the different options on the interface menu, LightAce offers you an incredible set of trapping, manipulation & measurement capabilities!
- Customize predefined routines for your specific experiments choosing the setting parameter values for each menu option.
- Use our predefined and customizable automated routines for cell mechanobiology or create your own routines using our simple and flexible LightAce Software Development Kit (SDK) completed by a variety of examples.
Our best efforts have been dedicated to create a user-friendly GUI. After a short training course given by our engineers, non-experts users can start working immediately and plan experiments from the very beginning.
Combining Manipulation Modes
LightAce Introduction. Trap generation and “Click & Drag”
Custom Optical Trap Oscillations
Direct Force Measurements
Custom Optical Traps Trajectories
How to create your own routines using LightAce SDK.
1. Choose among the manipulation & measurements .vi functions included in the LightAce SDK library:
2. Customize your selected .vi functions by setting their input parameters values:
3. Combine them to create your routines controlling all features of SENSOCELL :