Nanospheres measure the forces of cell motors – Phys.org

Motor proteins generate the forces for essential mechanical processes in our body. On a scale of nanometersa millionth of a millimetermotor proteins, for example, power our muscles or transport material within our cells. Such movements, invisible to the naked eye, can be made visible by Erik Schäffer: the professor of Cellular Nanoscience at the University of Tübingen develops special force microscopes, so-called optical tweezers, to measure how these molecular machines work mechanically. His team…

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