![]() For example, in the context of immune cell activation, mechanical forces generated by immune cells have been implicated in their function, playing a role in antigen recognition and discrimination 18, 19, 20. Despite an urgent demand from the biological context, these limitations have thus far precluded TFM in its application to biological questions involving cellular force production exhibiting both sub-micron length-scales and sub-second time-scales 17. Nevertheless, the sensitivity and biocompatibility of TFM have remained dependent on the individually chosen imaging modality, highlighting the difficulty of overcoming the trade-off between spatial resolution, temporal resolution, and acquisition duration 14, 15, 16. Efforts aiming to approach physiological sensitivity have led to combinations of TFM and different optical microscopy modalities with extended spatial and temporal resolution 11, 12. Despite its importance and proven biological significance, quantifying the dynamic process of force production in living cells via TFM remains challenging due to technical constraints. Traction force microscopy (TFM) has become one of the most commonly applied force probing methodologies 10, 11, 12, primarily due to its adaptability in modelling biological and mechanical properties, ease of implementation, and reliance on widely available materials and fluorescence microscopy 13. Quantifying mechanical forces within the context of fast nanoscale dynamics of cortical actin architectures has therefore become an important step in understanding the mechanobiology of living cells. ![]() ![]() Cells are thus able to adjust their biomechanics in order to meet their physiological needs 5, 8, 9. The strength of the forces generated by cells evolve in time, as does a cell’s sensitivity to changes in the magnitude, frequency and duration of the surrounding biomechanical stimuli 4. The ability of cells to generate and respond to these mechanical cues are primarily processed by the actin cytoskeleton, a key determinant of cellular biomechanics, that comprises dynamic actin architectures undergoing continuous re-arrangements and turnover 3, 6, 7. ![]() New insights in the field of mechanobiology have revealed that cellular physiology is directly influenced by the mechanical properties and forces generated within the cellular environment 3, 4, 5. Although the biological effects of biomechanics have perhaps always been most evident in the context of the physical behaviour of cells, it has become apparent that mechanical forces can direct the function of cells in many biological contexts in health and disease. Mechanical forces guide the function of living cells 1, 2. ![]()
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