Soft cells | Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology

Access through your institution Buy or subscribe The bulk properties of a cell's cytoplasm have long been thought to resemble those of hydrogels, such as agar or children's party

jelly. Now, using measurements on single cells, Ben Fabry and colleagues show that, in fact, they more closely resemble a soft glass. Fabry and colleagues attached ferrimagnetic beads to the

surface of single cells, held them in place with optical tweezers, and then rolled them back and forth in an oscillating electric field. By following the movement of these beads, a number

of physical properties of the cytoplasm, such as the elastic modulus, could be estimated. This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution ACCESS OPTIONS Access through

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Read our FAQs * Contact customer support ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER * Fabry, B. et al. Scaling the microrheology of living cells. _Phys. Rev. Lett._ 87, 148102 (2001) Article  CAS  Google

Scholar  Download references AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Senior Editor, Nature, Christopher Surridge Authors * Christopher Surridge View author publications You can also

search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar RELATED LINKS RELATED LINKS WEB SITE Ben Fabry's laboratory RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS

ARTICLE Surridge, C. Soft cells. _Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol_ 2, 789 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35099116 Download citation * Issue Date: 01 November 2001 * DOI:

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