The labs of SynthImmune PIs Kerstin Göpfrich and Ulrich Schwarz have posted a preprint entitled “Volume and surface methods for microparticle traction force microscopy: a computational and experimental comparison”.
In it, the authors directly compare the two main approaches for microparticle traction force microscopy: the volume and the surface method. Using simulated loading scenarios and DNA‑based hydrogel particles that carry both surface fluorophores and embedded nanoparticles, the authors show that the surface method consistently yields far lower reconstruction errors, a result confirmed experimentally with Hertzian‑like compression tests. The work establishes a computational‑experimental framework and demonstrates DNA‑hydrogel microparticles as versatile, biocompatible probes for accurately mapping cellular forces.
Read more about it here.
