Imaging and manipulation of single viruses by atomic force microscopy

The recent developments in virus research and the application of functional viral particles in nanotechnology and medicine rely on sophisticated imaging and manipulation techniques at nanometre resolution in liquid, air and vacuum. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is a tool that combines these requirements and imaging of viruses dates back to the early days of AFM. AFM has a comparable resolution to electron microscopy, but has the advantage that...