Publications

Alsteens, D., Meyer, E., Müller, D. J., & Gerber, C. (2026). Atomic force microscopy from nanoscale imaging to holistic exploration. Nature Reviews Physics. Accepted/in-press. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42254-026-00956-3 (Original work published 2026)

Liloku, P., Melo, D., Gisbert, V., Mannaert, S., Mechleb, K., Derclaye, S., Ray, A., Alsteens, D., Volkov, A., Sterckx, N.-, & Claeys Bouuaert, C. (2025). Insights into the recruitment of the H3K4me3 reader Spp1 by the meiotic double-strand break protein Mer2. Submitted. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.09.26.678740 (Original work published 2025)

Sempere Borau, M., Gisbert, V., Von Kempis, J., Arroyo-Fernández, L., Schiefer, S., Alsteens, D., & Stertz, S. (2025). Proximity labelling of internalizing influenza A viruses reveals a role for neogenin in virus uptake. PLOS Pathogens, 21(7), e1013338. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1013338 (Original work published 2025)

Ray, A., Simpson, J. D., Demir, I., Gisbert, V. G., Gomes, D. B., Amadei, F., & Alsteens, D. (2025). From viral assembly to host interaction: AFM’s contributions to virology. Journal of Virology, 99(1), e00873-24. https://doi.org/10.1128/jvi.00873-24 (Original work published 2025)

Sempere Borau, M., Garcia Gisbert, V., von Kempis, J., Arroyo-Fernández, L. M., Schiefer, S., Alsteens, D., Stertz, S., & Lee, B. (2025). Proximity labelling of internalizing influenza A viruses reveals a role for neogenin in virus uptake. PLOS Pathogens, 21(7), e1013338. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1013338 (Original work published 2025)

Zhang, Q., Rosa, R. S. L., Ray, A., Durlet, K., Dorrazehi, G. M., Bernardi, R. C., & Alsteens, D. (2025). Probing SARS-CoV-2 membrane binding peptide via single-molecule AFM-based force spectroscopy. Nature Communications, 16(1), 6. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55358-9 (Original work published 2025)

Alsteens, D. (2024). Probing living cell dynamics and molecular interactions using atomic force microscopy. Biophysical Reviews, 16(6), 663-677. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12551-024-01258-7 (Original work published 2024)

Shang, P., dos Santos Natividade, R., Taylor, G. M., Ray, A., Welsh, O. L., Fiske, K. L., Sutherland, D. M., Alsteens, D., & Dermody, T. S. (2024). NRP1 is a receptor for mammalian orthoreovirus engaged by distinct capsid subunits. Cell Host & Microbe, 32(6), 980-995. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chom.2024.04.014 (Original work published 2024)

Stommen, A., Ghodsi, M., Cloos, A.-S., Conrard, L., Dumitru, A.-C., Henriet, P., Pierreux, C., Alsteens, D., & Tyteca, D. (2024). Piezo1 Regulation Involves Lipid Domains and the Cytoskeleton and Is Favored by the Stomatocyte–Discocyte–Echinocyte Transformation. Biomolecules, 14(1), 51 [1-27]. https://doi.org/10.3390/biom14010051 (Original work published 2024)

dos Santos Natividade, R., Dumitru, A.-C., Nicoli, A., Strebl, M., Sutherland, D. M., Welsh, O. L., Ghulam, M., Stehle, T., Dermody, T. S., Di Pizio, A., Koehler, M., & Alsteens, D. (2024). Viral capsid structural assembly governs the reovirus binding interface to NgR1. Nanoscale Horizons : the home for rapid reports of exceptional significance in nanoscience and nanotechnology, 9(11), 1925-1937. https://doi.org/10.1039/d4nh00315b (Original work published 2024)

Ray, A., Minh Tran, T. T., Santos Natividade, R. d., Moreira, R. A., Simpson, J. D., Mohammed, D., Koehler, M., Petitjean, S. J. L., Zhang, Q., Bureau, F., Gillet, L., Poma, A. B., & Alsteens, D. (2024). Single-Molecule Investigation of the Binding Interface Stability of SARS-CoV-2 Variants with ACE2. ACS Nanoscience Au, 4(2), 136-145. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnanoscienceau.3c00060 (Original work published 2024)

Sutherland, D. M., Strebl, M., Koehler, M., Welsh, O. L., Yu, X., Hu, L., Dos Santos Natividade, R., Knowlton, J. J., Taylor, G. M., Moreno, R. A., Wörz, P., Lonergan, Z. R., Aravamudhan, P., Guzman-Cardozo, C., Kour, S., Pandey, U. B., Alsteens, D., Wang, Z., Prasad, B. V. V., et al. (2023). NgR1 binding to reovirus reveals an unusual bivalent interaction and a new viral attachment protein. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 120(24), e2219404120. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2219404120 (Original work published 2023)

Simpson, J., Ray, A., Marcon, C., Dos Santos Natividade, R., Dorrazehi, G. M., Durlet, K., Koehler, M., & Alsteens, D. (2023). Single-Molecule Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 Binding to C-Type Lectin Receptors. Nano letters, 23(4), 1496-1504. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.2c04931 (Original work published 2023)

Petitjean, S., Eeckhout, S., Delguste, M., Zhang, Q., Durlet, K., & Alsteens, D. (2023). Heparin-Induced Allosteric Changes in SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Facilitate ACE2 Binding and Viral Entry. Nano letters, 23(24), 11678-11684. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c03550 (Original work published 2023)

Dos Santos Natividade, R., Koehler, M., Gomes, P. S. F. C., Simpson, J., Smith, S. C., Gomes, D. E. B., de Lhoneux, J., Yang, J., Ray, A., Dermody, T. S., Bernardi, R. C., Ogden, K. M., & Alsteens, D. (2023). Deciphering molecular mechanisms stabilizing the reovirus-binding complex. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 120(21), e2220741120. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2220741120 (Original work published 2023)

Vanderroost, J., Avalosse, N., Mohammed, D., Hoffmann, D., Henriet, P., Pierreux, C., Alsteens, D., & Tyteca, D. (2023). Cholesterol and sphingomyelin polarize at the leading edge of migrating myoblasts and involve their clustering in submicrometric domains. Biomolecules, 13(2), 319 [1-30]. https://doi.org/10.3390/biom13020319 (Original work published 2023)

Fernandez, M., Shkumatov, A. V., Liu, Y., Stulemeijer, C., Derclaye, S., Efremov, R. G., Hallet, B., & Alsteens, D. (2023). AFM-based force spectroscopy unravels stepwise formation of the DNA transposition complex in the widespread Tn3 family mobile genetic elements. Nucleic acids research, 51(10), 4929-4941. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkad241 (Original work published 2023)

Ledoux, B., Zanin, N., Yang, J., Mercier, V., Coster, C., Dupont, C., Alsteens, D., Morsomme, P., & Renard, H.-F. (2023). Plasma membrane nanodeformations promote actin polymerization through CIP4/CDC42 recruitment and regulate type II IFN signaling. Science advances, 9(50), 1. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ade1660 (Original work published 2023)

Shang, P., Simpson, J., Taylor, G. M., Sutherland, D. M., Welsh, O. L., Aravamudhan, P., Dos Santos Natividade, R., Schwab, K., Michel, J. J., Poholek, A. C., Wu, Y., Rajasundaram, D., Koehler, M., Alsteens, D., & Dermody, T. S. (2023). Paired immunoglobulin-like receptor B is an entry receptor for mammalian orthoreovirus. Nature Communications, 14(1), 2615. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-38327-6 (Original work published 2023)

Glorieux, L., Vandooren, L., Derclaye, S., Pyr dit Ruys, S., Oncina-Gil, P., Salowka, A., Herinckx, G., Aajja Maazoubi, E., Lemoine, P., Spourquet, C., Lefort, H., Henriet, P., Tyteca, D., Spagnoli, F. M., Alsteens, D., Vertommen, D., & Pierreux, C. (2023). In-Depth Analysis of the Pancreatic Extracellular Matrix during Development for Next-Generation Tissue Engineering. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 24(12), 10268 [1-22]. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms241210268 (Original work published 2023)

Simpson, J. D., Ray, A., Koehler, M., Mohammed, D., & Alsteens, D. (2022). Atomic force microscopy applied to interrogate nanoscale cellular chemistry and supramolecular bond dynamics for biomedical applications. Chemical Communications, 58(33), 5072-5087. https://doi.org/10.1039/d1cc07200e (Original work published 2022)

Petitjean, S. J. L., Chen, W., Koehler, M., Jimmidi, R., Yang, J., Mohammed, D., Juniku, B., Stanifer, M. L., Boulant, S., Vincent, S. P., & Alsteens, D. (2022). Multivalent 9-O-Acetylated-sialic acid glycoclusters as potent inhibitors for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Nature Communications, 13(1), 2564. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30313-8 (Original work published 2022)

Lo Giudice, M., Yang, J., Poncin, M. A., Adumeau, L., Delguste, M., Koehler, M., Evers, K., Dumitru, A.-C., Dawson, K. A., & Alsteens, D. (2022). Nanophysical Mapping of Inflammasome Activation by Nanoparticles via Specific Cell Surface Recognition Events. ACS Nano, 16(1), 306-316. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.1c06301 (Original work published 2021)

Maja, M., Mohammed, D., Dumitru, A.-C., Verstraeten, S., Lingurski, M., Mingeot-Leclercq, M.-P., Alsteens, D., & Tyteca, D. (2022). Surface cholesterol-enriched domains specifically promote invasion of breast cancer cell lines by controlling invadopodia and extracellular matrix degradation. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, 79(8), 417 [1-20]. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-022-04426-8 (Original work published 2022)

Zhang, Q., Yang, J., Tillieux, S., Guo, Z., Natividade, R. d. S., Koehler, M., Petitjean, S., Cui, Z., & Alsteens, D. (2022). Stepwise Enzymatic-Dependent Mechanism of Ebola Virus Binding to Cell Surface Receptors Monitored by AFM. Nano Letters : a journal dedicated to nanoscience and nanotechnology, 22(4), 1641-1648. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c04677 (Original work published 2022)

Petitjean, S., Lecocq, M., Lelong, C., Denis, R., Defrère, S., Mariage, P.-A., Alsteens, D., & Pilette, C. (2022). Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge as a Potential Natural Compound against COVID-19. Cells, 11(8), 1311 [1-12]. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells11081311 (Original work published 2022)

Koehler, M., Petitjean, S., Yang, J., Aravamudhan, P., Somoulay, X., Lo Giudice, M., Poncin, M., Dumitru, A.-C., Dermody, T. S., & Alsteens, D. (2021). Reovirus directly engages integrin to recruit clathrin for entry into host cells. Nature Communications, 12(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22380-0 (Original work published 2021)

Cloos, A.-S., Daenen, L. G. M., Maja, M., Stommen, A., Vanderroost, J., Van Der Smissen, P., Rab, M., Westerink, J., Mignolet, E., Larondelle, Y., Terrasi, R., Muccioli, G., Dumitru, A.-C., Alsteens, D., van Wijk, R., & Tyteca, D. (2021). Impaired Cytoskeletal and Membrane Biophysical Properties of Acanthocytes in Hypobetalipoproteinemia – A Case Study. Frontiers in Physiology, 12(2), 638027 [1-22]. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2021.638027 (Original work published 2021)

Mohammed, D., Koehler, M., Dumitru, A.-C., Aravamudhan, P., Sutherland, D. M., Dermody, T. S., & Alsteens, D. (2021). Altered Glycan Expression on Breast Cancer Cells Facilitates Infection by T3 Seroptype Oncolytic Reovirus. Nano Letters : a journal dedicated to nanoscience and nanotechnology, 21(22), 9720-9728. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c03608 (Original work published 2021)

Pakravan, D., Michiels, E., Bratek-Skicki, A., De Decker, M., Van Lindt, J., Alsteens, D., Derclaye, S., Van Damme, P., Schymkowitz, J., Rousseau, F., Tompa, P., & Van Den Bosch, L. (2021). Liquid–Liquid Phase Separation Enhances TDP-43 LCD Aggregation but Delays Seeded Aggregation. Biomolecules, 11(4), 548. https://doi.org/10.3390/biom11040548 (Original work published 2021)

Viljoen, A., Mathelie-Guinlet, M., Ray, A., Strohmeyer, N., Oh, Y. J., Hinterdorfer, P., Müller, D. J., Alsteens, D., & Dufrêne, Y. (2021). Force spectroscopy of single cells using atomic force microscopy. Nature Reviews Methods Primers, 1(1), 63. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43586-021-00062-x (Original work published 2021)

Mathelie-Guinlet, M., Viela Bovio, F., Alsteens, D., & Dufrêne, Y. (2021). Stress-Induced Catch-Bonds to Enhance Bacterial Adhesion. Trends in Microbiology, 1(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tim.2020.11.009 (Original work published 2020)

Dumitru, A.-C., Stommen, A., Koehler, M., Cloos, A.-S., Yang, J., Leclercqz, A., Tyteca, D., & Alsteens, D. (2021). Probing PIEZO1 Localization upon Activation Using High-Resolution Atomic Force and Confocal Microscopy. Nano Letters : a journal dedicated to nanoscience and nanotechnology, 21(12), 4950-4958. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c00599 (Original work published 2021)

Koehler, M., Petitjean, S., Yang, J., Aravamudhan, P., Somoulay, X., Lo Giudice, M., Poncin, M., Dumitru, A.-C., Dermody, T. S., & Alsteens, D. (2021). Author Correction: Reovirus directly engages integrin to recruit clathrin for entry into host cells. Nature Communications, 12(1), 2946. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23537-7 (Original work published 2021)

Delguste, M., Le Brun, G., Cotin, F., Machiels, B., Gillet, L., & Alsteens, D. (2021). Single-Virus Force Spectroscopy Discriminates the Intrinsic Role of Two Viral Glycoproteins upon Cell Surface Attachment. Nano Letters : a journal dedicated to nanoscience and nanotechnology, 21(1), 847-853. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c04609 (Original work published 2021)

Koehler, M., Ray, A., Moreira, R. A., Juniku, B., Poma, A. B., & Alsteens, D. (2021). Molecular insights into receptor binding energetics and neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 variants. Nature Communications, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27325-1 (Original work published 2021)

Yang, J., Park, J., Koehler, M., Simpson, J., Luque, D., Rodríguez, J. M., & Alsteens, D. (2021). Rotavirus Binding to Cell Surface Receptors Directly Recruiting α2 Integrin. Advanced Nanobiomed Research, 2100077. https://doi.org/10.1002/anbr.202100077 (Original work published 2021)

Poncin, M. A., Van Meerbeeck, P., Simpson, J. D., Clippe, A., Tyckaert, F., Bouillenne, F., Degand, H., Matagne, A., Morsomme, P., Knoops, B., & Alsteens, D. (2021). Role of the Redox State of Human Peroxiredoxin-5 on Its TLR4-Activating DAMP Function. Antioxidants, 10(12), 1902. https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox10121902 (Original work published 2021)

Yang, J., Petitjean, S., Koehler, M., Zhang, Q., Dumitru, A.-C., Chen, W., Derclaye, S., Vincent, S. P., Soumillion, P., & Alsteens, D. (2021). Author Correction: Molecular interaction and inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 binding to the ACE2 receptor. Nature Communications, 12(1), 2996. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23498-x (Original work published 2021)

Müller, D. J., Dumitru, A.-C., Lo Giudice, M., Gaub, H. E., Hinterdorfer, P., Hummer, G., De Yoreo, J. J., Dufrêne, Y., & Alsteens, D. (2021). Atomic Force Microscopy-Based Force Spectroscopy and Multiparametric Imaging of Biomolecular and Cellular Systems. Chemical Reviews, 121, 11701-11725. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemrev.0c00617 (Original work published 2020)

Dumitru, A.-C., Deepak, R. N. V. K., Liu, H., Koehler, M., Zhang, C., Fan, H., & Alsteens, D. (2020). Submolecular probing of the complement C5a receptor–ligand binding reveals a cooperative two-site binding mechanism. Communications Biology, 3(1), 786. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-020-01518-8 (Original work published 2020)

Renard, H.-F., Tyckaert, F., Lo Giudice, M., Hirsch, T., Valades-Cruz, C. A., Lemaigre, C., Shafaq-Zadah, M., Wunder, C., Wattiez, R., Johannes, L., van der Bruggen, P., Alsteens, D., & Morsomme, P. (2020). Endophilin-A3 and Galectin-8 control the clathrin-independent endocytosis of CD166. Nature Communications, 11(1), 1457. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15303-y (Original work published 2020)

Koehler, M., Lo Giudice, C., Vogl, P., Ebner, A., Hinterdorfer, P., Gruber, H. J., & Alsteens, D. (2020). Control of Ligand-Binding Specificity Using Photocleavable Linkers in AFM Force Spectroscopy. Nano Letters : a journal dedicated to nanoscience and nanotechnology, 20(5), 4038-4042. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c01426 (Original work published 2020)

Lo Giudice, C., Zhang, H., Wu, B., & Alsteens, D. (2020). Mechanochemical Activation of Class-B G-Protein-Coupled Receptor upon Peptide–Ligand Binding. Nano Letters : a journal dedicated to nanoscience and nanotechnology, 20(7), 5575-5582. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c02333 (Original work published 2020)

Lecordier, L., Uzureau, S., Vanwalleghem, G., Deleu, M., Crowet, J.-M., Barry, P., Moran, B., Voorheis, P., Dumitru, A.-C., Yamaryo-Botté, Y., Dieu, M., Tebabi, P., Vanhollebeke, B., Lins, L., Botté, C. Y., Alsteens, D., Dufrêne, Y., Pérez-Morga, D., Nolan, D. P., & Pays, E. (2020). The Trypanosoma Brucei KIFC1 Kinesin Ensures the Fast Antibody Clearance Required for Parasite Infectivity. iScience, 23(9), 101476. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2020.101476 (Original work published 2020)

Dumitru, A.-C., Mohammed, D., Maja, M., Yang, J., Verstraeten, S., del Campo, A., Mingeot-Leclercq, M.-P., Tyteca, D., & Alsteens, D. (2020). Label‐Free Imaging of Cholesterol Assemblies Reveals Hidden Nanomechanics of Breast Cancer Cells. Advanced Science, 2002643. https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202002643 (Original work published 2020)

Köhler, M., Delguste, M., Sieben, C., Gillet, L., & Alsteens, D. (2020). Initial step of virus entry: virion binding to cell surface glycans. Annual Review of Virology. Accepted/in-press. (Original work published 2020)

Diller, J. R., Halloran, S. R., Koehler, M., Dos Santos Natividade, R., Alsteens, D., Stehle, T., Dermody, T. S., & Ogden, K. M. (2020). Reovirus σ1 Conformational Flexibility Modulates the Efficiency of Host Cell Attachment. Journal of Virology, 94(23), e01163-20 [1-18]. https://doi.org/10.1128/JVI.01163-20 (Original work published 2020)

Yang, J., Petitjean, S., Koehler, M., Zhang, Q., Dumitru, A.-C., Chen, W., Derclaye, S., Vincent, S. P., Soumillion, P., & Alsteens, D. (2020). Molecular interaction and inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 binding to the ACE2 receptor. Nature Communications, 11(1), 4541. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18319-6 (Original work published 2020)

Valotteau, C., Dumitru, A.-C., Lecordier, L., Alsteens, D., Pays, E., Pérez-Morga, D., & Dufrêne, Y. (2020). Multiparametric Atomic Force Microscopy Identifies Multiple Structural and Physical Heterogeneities on the Surface of Trypanosoma brucei. ACS Omega, 5(33), 20953-20959. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.0c02416 (Original work published 2020)

Viljoen, A., Alsteens, D., & Dufrêne, Y. (2020). Mechanical Forces between Mycobacterial Antigen 85 Complex and Fibronectin. Cells, 9(3), 716. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells9030716 (Original work published 2020)

Mathelie-Guinlet, M., Viela Bovio, F., Pietrocola, G., Speziale, P., Alsteens, D., & Dufrêne, Y. (2020). Force-clamp spectroscopy identifies a catch bond mechanism in a Gram-positive pathogen. Nature Communications, 11(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-19216-8 (Original work published 2020)