In-situ single cell manipulation via nanorobotic manipulation system inside E-SEM

Abstract

We performed in-situ single cell (W303) manipulation with force measurement inside the Environment-SEM. The mechanical end effector was fabricated from a commercial AFM cantilever by FIB etching. The end effector was assembled to the nanorobotic manipulation system which can realize controlling the position at the nanometer scale. The releasing, sliding and rolling of single cell on a substrate were achieved by controlling the humidity condition inside E-SEM. The influence of humidity to the single cell manipulation inside E-SEM was also discussed for the first time. To our knowledge, it is the first time to manipulate single cell with sliding and rolling movements inside E-SEM.