Biological surface imaging using Scanning Ion Conductance Microscopy (SICM)
and 24 hour (bottom right) fixed Human Dermal Fibroblasts cells
Scanning Ion Conductance Microscopy (SICM) (Y. Korchev et al. Biophysical Journal 1997; 73, 653) is a recently developed branch of the Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) family.
SICM uses the flow of ions through a nanopipette to image the surface topography (shown in the figure above) with a spatial resolution of ~50 nm. An important advantage of SICM over other SPM techniques is that the probe does minimal damage to the sample surface - the pipette can be controlled to keep tens of nanometres above the surface.
SICM is also a label-free technique, and the spatial and height resolution are significantly better than the diffraction limit of a confocal fluorescence microscope.
At NPL, we are addressing the metrology issues of SICM and exploring the potential of the technique to study live cells. A combination of SICM with Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy (SECM) has also been developed[1] for the study of biological surfaces with nanoscale resolution. Other interests include applying this technique to investigate soft nanoparticles, biological agglomerates and interactions between cell surfaces and nanoparticles.
Selected Publications
- Multifunctional Nanoprobes for Nanoscale Chemical Imaging and Localized Chemical Delivery at Surfaces and Interfaces
Y. Takahashi, A. I. Shevchuk, P. Novak, Y. Zhang, N. Ebejer, J. V. Macpherson, P. R. Unwin, A. J. Pollard, D. Roy, C. A. Clifford, H. Shiku, T. Matsue, D. Klenerman, and Y. E. Korchev
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.50, (2011) 9638-9 - Development of a Novel Combined Scanning Electrochemical Microscope (SECM) and Scanning Ion-Conductance Microscope (SICM) Probe for Soft Sample Imaging
A. J. Pollard, N. Faruqui, M. Shaw, C. A. Clifford, Y. Takahashi, Y. E. Korchev, N. Ebejer, J. V. Macpherson, P. R. Unwin, D. Roy
MRS Proceedings, 1422, mrsf11-1422-qq07-04 doi:10.1557/opl.2012.489 (2012)
For more information, please contact Andrew Pollard