Poking the cell surface: mechanics, remodeling, and what force reveals

Abstract What happens when you poke a living cell, applying a localized external force to its surface? The answer depends, in part, on how long you keep poking. The plasma membrane and the actomyosin cortex beneath it form a mechanically active interface that changes in disease and can itself be reshaped by force. This review explores how the cell surface responds to such force in two overlapping experimental regimes. Poke briefly, over seconds, and force becomes a readout, revealing biophysical parameters that report on cell state and serve as candidate single-cell markers of disease. Keep poking, over minutes, and force can remodel the surface, suggesting that it may act not only as a perturbation but also as an instructive signal. What emerges is a mechanical fingerprint whose potential for diagnosis, disease monitoring, and, eventually, controlled manipulation of cell surfaces is only beginning to be understood.