Vincent Dupres

Vincent DUPRES received his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the Université de Cergy-Pontoise (France) in 2001. After postdoctoral works at the Université de Paris-Sud and at the Université Descartes Paris, he has joined the group of Yves Dufrene in the Laboratory of Chemistry of Interfaces at the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL, Belgium). His current research is focused on the detection and mapping of single biomolecules on living cells using atomic force microscopy (AFM).

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Atomic force microscopy in cell biology

In the last 20 years, atomic force microscopy (AFM) has emerged as a powerful technique in biological research, allowing the investigation of biological samples under physiological conditions, from single molecules to living cells. In this presentation, I will describe the working principles of AFM and discuss several examples in which AFM is used to probe the cellular surfaces in their native environment (1-4). I will first show how AFM imaging in aqueous solution can visualize cell surface nanostructures, track physiological changes and monitor the effect of external agents. I will then discuss the use of force spectroscopy to learn about local biomolecular interactions and physical properties. Functionalizing the AFM tips with chemical groups or biomolecules enables quantitative measurements of surface hydrophobicity and receptor-ligand interactions. In addition, force spectroscopy can simultaneously localize and stretch single molecules on live cells (5,6). These nanoscale analyses complement traditional “omic” approaches for the functional analysis of cell surfaces, and may help in the search for novel drugs.

(1)    Dupres V. et al, Nature Methods, 2 (2005), 515-520.

(2)    Hinterdorfer P. and Dufrêne Y.F., Nature Methods, 3 (2006), 347-355.

(3)    Dufrêne Y.F., Nat. Rev. Microbiol., 6 (2008), 674-680.

(4)    Müller D. and Dufrêne Y.F., Nat. Nanotech., 3 (2008), 261-269.

(5)    Alsteens D. et al, ACS Nano, 3 (2009), 1677-1682.

(6)    Dupres V. et al, Nat. Chem. Biol., 5 (2009), 857-862.