Tokyo Institute of Technology · Physics and Astronomy
Professor K. Nakajima's research lab specializes in nanomechanical characterization of soft materials, particularly polymers and biological systems, using advanced atomic force microscopy techniques. The lab focuses on quantitative mapping of mechanical properties such as elastic modulus, adhesion energy, and viscoelastic behavior at the nanoscale, with an emphasis on overcoming limitations of classical contact mechanics models. A key research direction involves developing and applying nano-palpation and force-volume methods to study complex polymeric and biological materials. The lab also explores biomarker discovery in cancer, exemplified by work on Cystatin SN as a potential tumor marker for colorectal cancer.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
We review nano-palpation atomic force microscopy, which offers quantitative mechanical property mapping especially for soft materials. The method measures force-deformation curves on the surfaces of soft materials. The emphasis is placed on how both Hertzian and Derjaguin-Muller-Toporov contact mechanics fail to reproduce the experimental curves and, alternatively, how the Johnson-Kendall-Roberts model does. We also describe the force-volume technique for obtaining a two-dimensional map of mecha
The goal of this study was to investigate Cystatin SN, a cysteine protease inhibitor, as a novel tumor marker for colorectal cancer (CRC). Gene expression profiles of mRNA from normal tissues and cancer cell lines were performed. Twenty-eight monoclonal antibodies for Cystatin SN were generated and serum Cystatin SN was quantified using ELISA in sera from 159 patients with CRC and 40 healthy controls. Cystatin SN was highly expressed in colon cancer cells. Employing a receiver-operating characte
We measured force–distance curves of polystyrene (PS)/poly (vinyl methyl ether) (PVME) blend thin films using atomic force microscopy (AFM) in order to pursue the possible usage of AFM as a tool for detecting viscoelastic properties of polymeric materials from a nanoscopic point of view. In quasi-static measurements of force–distance curves for a sample whose PS content equals 100%, both adhesive force and capillary force were measured separately. A phenomenon possibly assigned to pulling off of
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