Experienced anglers know that choppy waters make for difficult
fishing, so they try not to rock the boat. Thanks to a new
microscopy technique, cell biology researchers can heed that
same advice. University of Illinois researchers developed a
method they call ''trolling AFM,'' which allows them to study
soft biological samples in liquid with high resolution and high
quality. Led by mechanical science and engineering professor
Min-Feng Yu, the group published its findings in the journal
Nanotechnology. ''We developed a highly sensitive method for
high-resolution imaging of soft biological samples, such as
living cells, in their physiological condition,'' said Majid
Minary, a recent graduate of Yu's group and first author of the
paper. Minary now is a professor at the University of Texas-
Dallas. ''We improved the quality factor of common atomic force
microscopy imaging methods by two orders of magnitude,'' Minary
said. The widely used atomic force microscope provides images of
tiny structures with high resoluti