Single Cell Elastography using Optical Tweezers and Optical Coherence Tomography

Mechanical properties of living cell define cell’s response to the external forces and their deviations are associated with many deseases. For example, echinocytosis [1] and malaria [2] cause changes in the deformation properties of red blood cells. Therefore, the development of methods to determine the mechanical properties of a single living cell is of particular interest.