title: A high throughput MATLAB program for automated force-curve processing using the AdG polymer model.
abstract: Research in understanding biofilm formation is dependent on accurate and representative measurements of the steric forces related to brush on bacterial surfaces. A MATLAB program to analyze force curves from an AFM efficiently, accurately, and with minimal user bias has been developed. The analysis is based on a modified version of the Alexander and de Gennes (AdG) polymer model, which is a function of equilibrium polymer brush length, probe radius, temperature, separation distance, and a density variable. Automating the analysis reduces the amount of time required to process 100 force curves from several days to less than 2min. The use of this program to crop and fit force curves to the AdG model will allow researchers to ensure proper processing of large amounts of experimental data and reduce the time required for analysis and comparison of data, thereby enabling higher quality results in a shorter period of time.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609, USA.
authors.forename: Samantha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: O'Connor
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609, USA.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gaddis
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609, USA.
authors.forename: Evan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609, USA.
authors.forename: Terri A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Camesano
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609, USA. Electronic address: nab@wpi.edu.
authors.forename: Nancy A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Burnham
mesh_terms: D057205:Automation, Laboratory; D001419:Bacteria / Q000737:chemistry*; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force / Q000379:methods*; D011108:Polymers / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D011108:Polymers
keywords: AFM; Alexander–deGennes model; Bacteriology; Polymer brush