Computational methods for atomic force microscopy

Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) is a powerful tool to investigate the mechanical properties of cell membranes, by using a probe to scan the surface of a biological sample. However, computational and mathematical tools are still lacking to process and analyze time-series data from AFM in an automated way. Our project aims to develop an end-to-end pipeline to quantify the biophysical heterogeneity of cells observed from AFM data, by developing algorithms and analytical tools in bioinformatics, computational geometry and image analysis. By applying our new methodology on data provided from our collaborator who pioneered the technique, we are also planning to assess the impact of various stress conditions and antibiotic treatment on the cell membrane, providing potential avenues for the development of novel treatments of microbial infections.

Faculty Supervisor:

Khanh Dao Duc

Student:

Partner:

CentraleSupélec

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Education

University:

The University of British Columbia

Program: