PICMI-AFM core facility is dedicated to the study of biological samples for nanometric imaging, and/or for the study of their mechanical properties. Before PICMI-AFM creation (2012), there was no AFM biological corefacility in the whole Region Sud and it remains unique to date. Thanks to PICMI-AFM, IRCAN has filled a scientific and technical void. This Imaging core facility is part of the network Microscopie Imagerie Cytométrie Azur (MICA) ), a multi-site, multi-research bodies facility, accredited by GIS IBISA in 2010 (https://univ-cotedazur.fr/mica). The Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) is based on the physical interaction between the AFM probe and the sample surface.

The probe measures the forces of interaction (attractive or repulsive) with the sample surface, which depend monotonously on the distance.

These measurements can be used for two scientific purposes:

• for imaging, by obtaining 3D images at nanometric resolution
• for studying the mechanical properties of the sample, such as elasticity, by means of what is known as nanoindentation.

The advantages of the technique lie in the almost no sample preparation requirement that leaves the native surface unaltered and in the possibility of performing the experiment in a liquid environment (physiological condition). Besides, AFM is a single molecule technique, so measurements give distributions with a full statistical description and detection of intermediates and rare events.

The high resolution of AFM can be used in a very wide spectrum of applications from cell or tissue imaging to single molecules, not only for topography but also for studying the mechanical properties of biological samples.

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