3D mechanical characterization of single cells and small organisms using acoustic manipulation and force microscopy

Quantitative micromechanical characterization of single cells and multicellular tissues or organisms is fundamentally important for studying cellular growth, morphogenesis, and cell-cell interactions. However, due to limited manipulation capabilities at the microscale, existing systems struggle to provide complete three-dimensional (3D) coverage of individual specimens. This study combines an acoustically driven manipulation device with a micro-force sensor to freely rotate biological samples and quantify mechanical properties at multiple regions of interest within a specimen. The versatility of this tool is demonstrated through the analysis of single *Lilium longiflorum* pollen grains and individual *Caenorhabditis elegans* nematodes, revealing local variations in apparent stiffness and providing previously inaccessible information on mechanical properties for biophysical modeling.

Nino F. Läubli, Jan T. Burri, Julian Marquard, Hannes Vogler, Gabriella Mosca, Nadia Vertti-Quintero, Naveen Shamsudhin, Andrew deMello, Ueli Grossniklaus, Daniel Ahmed, Bradley J. Nelson