The chemical and biological functions of living cells are known to be influenced strongly by mechanical forces and deformation, and the ability of cells to detect and support forces, in turn, is also affected by chemical and biological factors. Furthermore, the progression of a number of inherited and infectious diseases have also been identified to have a strong correlation with the mechanical deformation characteristics of biological cells. Consequently, the deformation characteristics of whole cells and cell membranes have long been investigated using a variety of experimental methods, such as the micropipette aspiration technique, and by computational modeling (see, for example, refs. [1, 2]). Recent advances in experimental techniques capable of probing mechanical forces and displacements to a resolution of picoNewton and nanometer, respectively, have facilitated use of mechanical test methods for living cells whereby precise measurements of response under different stress states could be investigated.
