Biophysical reviews top five: atomic force microscopy in biophysics

Abstract

Since its invention in the late 1980s, atomic force microscopy (AFM), in which a nanometer-sized tip is used to physically interrogate the properties of a surface at high resolution, has brought about scientific revolutions in both surface science and biological physics. In response to a request from the journal, I have prepared a top-five list of scientific papers that I feel represent truly landmark developments in the use of AFM in the biophysics field. This selection is necessarily limited by number (just five) and subjective (my opinion) and I offer my apologies to those not appearing in this list.

Biophysical Reviews— 2021, the year that was

“…Prof. Jorge Alegre-Cebollada, the winner of the 2021 Michѐle Auger Award for Young Scientists’ Independent Research (Alegre-Cebollada 2021 ). The second feature article, submitted by Prof. Toshio Ando of Japan, was the first example of a new type of invited commentary featured by the journal known as the “Biophysical Reviews – Top Five” which describes five canonical scientific articles in the biophysical field in which the author is designated as an expert (in this case – high-speed atomic force microscopy) (Ando 2021 ). Other highlights of Issue 4 include a submission, by scientists based in Portugal, on a large-scale meta-analysis of a characteristic waveform of electrical contractions preceding childbirth (Russo et al 2021 ), a review article by scientists based in Israel and the USA, on computational modeling of Ras-like protein regulation (Nussinov et al 2021 ) and an experimental-oriented review article from a scientist located in Japan, exploring Ras-like proteins involvement in endocytotic vesicle capture (Mima 2021 ).…”

Biophysical reviews—providing an effective critique

“…The Biophysical Reviews' "Historical Top Five" While science, due to its very nature, tends to chase new developments, it is often easier to make sense of a field with some appreciations of its past. Towards this line of thought, this Issue of Biophysical Reviews contains the first invited contribution of a new Letter-type format known as the "Biophysical Reviews Historical Top Five" (Ando 2021). Such "Top Five" contributions are requested from eminent scientists in a particular field, with the brief that they share their opinion about five particularly significant historical articles within their research area.…”

“…To start this series, the journal requested a "Top Five" contribution in the area of "biophysical investigations involving atomic force microscopy (AFM)" from Prof. Toshio Ando, one of the founding developers of the high-speed AFM technique (Viani et al 2000;Ando et al 2001;Ando et al 2002). In a remarkably thoughtful piece, Prof. Ando first provides a digestible introduction to the development of the general AFM field before focusing on five biophysical developments that have helped to advance biological understanding (Ando 2021). By virtue of the very fact that these "Top Five" requests are made within the strictures of a Letter format, they are intentionally not meant to be interpreted as comprehensive reviews of the literature.…”