AFM: an ally to reach the frontiers of nanotechnology, biophysics and biology

David Alsteens is the head of the team that has just made this very promising discovery in the health field. He has been working on it for several years. His aim is to investigate the molecular mechanisms. His most valuable ally (apart from his team)? The atomic force microscope.

I used this equipment during my dissertation on the nanoscale organisation of the mycobacterial cell wall. I then decided to learn more about this way of studying cell walls through a PhD thesis and a post-doctorate at UCLouvain. I was then able to explore other aspects, still related to this microscopic technique, during a research stay at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (Switzerland).
I learned to couple it with a cell biology dimension. In 2015, I returned to UCLouvain as an FNRS researcher to set up a team. It is looking at all the molecular mechanisms linked to the entry of viruses using AFM.

It has been available since 1986 and has been used on materials, then for imaging in ambient air, then in liquid media. This technology continues to evolve to make surface analysis ever more precise. More recently, AFM has made it possible to investigate micro-organisms and living cells.

The extremely fine precision of this technology. So you can use it to look at the individual molecule, and that's quite unique.

Yes, in the field of studying Staphylococcus aureus receptors, for example: it allows you to examine how they interact on the skin of different people. In fact, this microscope has many applications, from the study of materials to the structure of biological molecules. Applied to biology, it deciphers the surface of cells under certain physiological conditions, so that their structure, adhesive and mechanical properties, etc. can be assessed. It is also possible to study the structure of individual proteins and to investigate their stability. We can also measure the affinity between ligands and receptors and see how certain drugs block these interactions. 

All these equipments are gathered in two technological platforms: the IMABIOL platform et the MICA platform.

Yes, this is why I decided to combine the latest generation of atomic force microscopes with confocal laser scanning microscopes (CLSM). In 2018, I was awarded an ERC to carry out this project, which aimed to study and characterise the early stages of entry of a single virus directly onto living cells.

► In 2022, Professor Alsteens and his team are achieving great results!