Atomic force microscope

• Subject Area: Materials Science ; Zoology
• Term: Funded in 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 460884739

In numerous of the scientific projects currently carried out and planned for the future in the Biology Centre of Kiel University, it will be necessary to characterise the surfaces of preparations of diverse biological and artificial structures in detail. For this purpose, the morphology and topography of surface structures will have to be visualized with high resolution, and the material properties of surface structures will have to be precisely analysed. While it will be possible to successfully perform some of these characterisations with light and electron microscopy techniques, many of the planned analyses will only be realisable using atomic force microscopy. Accordingly, the application of an atomic force microscope will be essential in the relevant projects. The only atomic force microscope currently available to the working groups of the Biology Centre is relatively old and no longer fully functional. For this reason, a new atomic force microscope, which is as well-equipped as possible, is to be purchased. This atomic force microscope will be applied in different biological disciplines. Amongst others, analyses of 1) surface structures of viruses and bacteria, 2) interactions between viruses and bacteria, 3) structures and properties of the cell walls of microalgae and cyanobacteria, 4) interactions between bacteria and freshwater polyps, 5) terminal tracheal structures of fruit flies and 6) topographies and material properties of the surfaces of arthropod exoskeleton structures are planned to be carried out. In order to meet all requirements related to these analyses, the new atomic force microscope must be capable of being integrated into an inverted transmitted light microscope and make it possible to perform all visualizations and analyses both in liquids with precisely controllable temperature and in gases with precisely controllable temperature, humidity and composition. Furthermore, it must enable to determine force-distance curves using spectroscopic methods and then derive various material properties (e.g. stiffness, elasticity) and surface properties (e.g. adhesion forces) of the analysed specimens from them. The new atomic force microscope will be operated and administered by the working group ‘Functional Morphology and Biomechanics’, which has expertise and experience in the application of atomic force microscopy.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Rasterkraftmikroskop
• Instrumentation Group: 5091 Rasterkraft-Mikroskope
• Applicant Institution: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
• Leader: Professor Dr. Stanislav N. Gorb