Laboratoire de Physique Théorique
Toulouse - UMR 5152

The recent development of experimental techniques such as atomic force microscopy (AFM) and optical tweezers opened a new window on biological molecules such as proteins, opening a window on the physics at play at the molecular scale. In this talk, I will review experimental results on the mechanical properties of proteins studied by AFM and explain why these results can arouse the curiosity of physicist, suggesting a rich behaviour calling for models inspired by disordered systems for instance. I will later highlight why error analysis must be carried out very carefully before further developing statistical models and conclude by suggesting complementary experiments.