Cell Magnetic tweezers for the study of mechanical interactions in Cells

Abstract

In this project, a cell Magnetic Tweezer (MT) set-up was assembled and calibrated, aimed at the study of mechanical interactions in single cells. The set-up is able to apply forces of ranging from 0.2 to 0.5 nN and is specifically designed to track the mechanics of protein-cell interactions in individual cell entities. Previous to the assembly, a simulation of the induced magnetic field was carried out in order to enhance its value by means of changing the dimension of the tip and the turns in the coil. Once assembled, the MT has been custom programmed and made functional, using LabVIEW as the programming language. Finally, it has been tested and consequently calibrated, tracking 3 µm paramagnetic beads in a solution of well-known viscosity (10000 cSt).