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Nature Methods 6, 190 (1 March 2009) | doi:10.1038/nmeth0309-190

Setting a nanoparticle trap

Allison Doerr

Like a tiny hand picking up an object, a tightly focused laser beam can trap and transport micrometer-sized particles, including cells. These aptly named optical tweezers have been applied to a number of interesting biological questions on the single-cell or even single-molecule levels.