The focus of this research project is to develop a Combined Ablation and Nonlinear Imaging (CANI) system and demonstrate its utility as a new tool to answer questions in cell biology that are currently inaccessible by other techniques. For example, many open questions remain about the viscoelastic nature of the cytoskeletal network in living cells, the nature of the interconnectivity of the acting stress fibers to the rest of the cytoskeleton, and the force transfer contribution of individual actin bundles to cell shape and adhesion. The proposed CANI system opens the possibility of directly probing cell behavior and mechanics within tissue samples. The work will also contribute to the education and the training of future multidisciplinary scientists and engineers through research-based education of undergraduate and graduate students. Finally, using the group's well-established program for outreach and public education, this work will be broadly disseminated to the general public.
