Figure 1.

(a) Contact-mode AFM height image of S. aureus cells immobilized in liquid in holes etched into a silicon wafer. Z scale is 1.5 μm. (b) Force map (32 × 32) on an individual cell; grayscale range: 0.003–0.014 Nm⁻¹; black inset scale bar represents 500 nm. The white box represents the slice taken out for panel c. (c) The measured sample stiffness in a 1.5 μm line of force data taken across the cell force map, showing little variation across the top surface in the central part.