Optical tweezers study life under tension

• DOI: 10.1038/nphoton.2011.100
• Publication Date: 2011-05-31T04:38:45Z
• Authors: Furqan M Fazal; Steven M Block
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; 03 medical and health sciences

Optical tweezers have become one of the primary weapons in the arsenal of biophysicists, and have revolutionized the new field of single-molecule biophysics. Today's techniques allow high-resolution experiments on biological macromolecules that were mere pipe dreams only a decade ago.