Optical interferometry based micropipette aspiration provides real-time sub-nanometer spatial resolution

Micropipette aspiration (MPA) is an essential tool in mechanobiology; however, its potential is far from fully exploited. The traditional MPA technique has limited temporal and spatial resolution and requires extensive post processing to obtain the mechanical fingerprints of samples. Here, we develop a MPA system that measures pressure and displacement in real time with sub-nanometer resolution thanks to an interferometric readout. This highly sensitive MPA system enables studying the nanoscale behavior of soft biomaterials under tension and their frequency-dependent viscoelastic response.