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Review
. 2017 Jul;19(7):742-751.
doi: 10.1038/ncb3564. Epub 2017 Jun 19.

Quantifying forces in cell biology

Pere Roca-Cusachs  1   2   3 , Vito Conte  1 , Xavier Trepat  1   2   4   3
Affiliations
Free article
Review

Quantifying forces in cell biology

Pere Roca-Cusachs et al. Nat Cell Biol. 2017 Jul.
Free article

Abstract

Cells exert, sense, and respond to physical forces through an astounding diversity of mechanisms. Here we review recently developed tools to quantify the forces generated by cells. We first review technologies based on sensors of known or assumed mechanical properties, and discuss their applicability and limitations. We then proceed to draw an analogy between these human-made sensors and force sensing in the cell. As mechanics is increasingly revealed to play a fundamental role in cell function we envisage that tools to quantify physical forces may soon become widely applied in life-sciences laboratories.

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