Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) based nanoindentation is a widely used technique for measuring mechanical properties of living cells, providing information for understanding their mechanobiological behavior. However, very local properties of cell surfaces have not been characterized earlier. The goal of this study was to develop an AFM-based technique to determine local elastic properties of bovine articular chondrocytes. The Youngs modulus of chondrocytes was 19.3 ± 5.6 kPa for spread cells and 10 ± 4.1 kPa for the round cells. The results were compared to previous studies in which different techniques were used to obtain more global properties of chondrocytes. Our findings suggest that using nanosized AFM tips, the very local cell properties can be measured.
Future biorefineries will work according to the principles of Nature, using microbes and enzymes for valorizing wastes and other biomass into biofuels, other bioenergy substances, organic platform chemicals, and organic fertilizers. A mobile biorefinery pilot plant was engineered and manufactured in Finland and tested in Finland, Poland and Sweden with various biowastes within ABOWE project. The main purpose of the ABOWE Biorefinery pilot plant tests was to give a reliable "proof of concept" on the industrially important substances producible in a sustainable way. This goal was achieved successfully, and several overall difficulties were overcome during the testing in three countries.
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