Dresden 2026 – scientific programme
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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik
O 69: Nanostructures at surfaces:1D, 2D, networks – Poster
O 69.13: Poster
Wednesday, March 11, 2026, 18:00–20:00, P2
Atomic-Scale Sequencing of Biomolecules with nc-AFM — •Benjamin Mallada1, Alejandro Lynch-Gonzalez1, Marko Grabarics1, Pavel Jelinek2, Bruno de la Torre3, and Stephan Rauschenbach1 — 1Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK — 2Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic — 3Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology Research Center (CINN-CSIC) , Mieres, Spain
Glycans, peptides, and cyclodextrins present major challenges for structural analysis due to branching, heterogeneous modifications, and stereochemical diversity. Conventional tools such as MS and NMR often fail to resolve these features at the single-molecule level. Non-contact AFM, combined with STM and KPFM under cryogenic UHV conditions, has recently demonstrated chemical sensitivity sufficient to discriminate functional groups and stereochemical arrangements by probing electrostatic and non-covalent interactions. Applications include the direct visualization of glycans in protein and lipid conjugates [1], submolecular resolution of cyclodextrins [2], and progress toward sequencing of complex carbohydrates and peptides. These results underline the potential of nc-AFM to expand the scope of SPM from imaging and identification toward true atomic-scale sequencing of biomolecules.
Keywords: nc-AFM; STM; biomolecules