SENSOCELL optical tweezers for Cell Biophysics and Mechanobiology

15 Sep 2023

The distinctive technology of Photon Lines Ltd’s partner Impetux’s SENSOCELL optical tweezers platform enables unprecedented experiments in Cell Biophysics. With several units installed in leading reference sites across Europe, the US and Asia, SENSOCELL is helping scientists to push the limits of Science in the field of Mechanobiology.

Applications vary from in vitro experiments such as cell membrane tether pulling, mechanoreceptor adhesion forces, motor protein kinetics or microtubules and actin filament mechanics to novel in vivo intracellular mechanics studies like cell nucleus stretching, intracellular microrheology, or cell-cell interactions. Other applications include protein droplets microrheology, microswimmers motility forces or liquid crystal mechanics.

Thanks to its unique direct force sensor technology, SENSOCELL can simultaneously measure forces over multiple traps not only in vitro using microspheres as handles but also in vivo, even directly trapping cells as a whole or endogenous structures such as the cell membrane, the cell nucleus, vesicles and other organelles without needing any previous calibration from the user.

The Impetux LightAce software offers users an incredible set of trapping, manipulation & measurement capabilities. Take control over up to 256 optical traps and read real time force and position data for each trapped target. Record videos synchronized with force and position data and apply trap oscillations, trajectories, Force Clamping experiments or built-in routines like our Active Microrheology tool by simply selecting the different options on the interface menu. Or program your own experiments using the LightAce Software Development Kit.

SENSOCELL is assembled on a research-grade inverted microscope with customizable configuration. Users can combine SENSOCELL optical tweezers with several fluorescence imaging techniques including Spinning Disk and Scan Confocals, Epi-FL or TIRF.

If you are interested in Cell Biophysics, Mechanobiology and Optical Manipulation, or want to upgrade your current Optical Trapping lab to the next level, SENSOCELL could be what you are looking for.