FORMA: expanding applications of optical tweezers

FORMA (force reconstruction via maximum-likelihood-estimator analysis) addresses the need of measuring the force fields acting on microscopic particles. Compared to alternative established methods, FORMA is faster, simpler, more accurate, and more precise. Furthermore, FORMA can also measure non-conservative and out-of-equilibrium force fields. Here, after a brief introduction to FORMA, I will present its use, advantages and limitations. I will conclude with some recent work where we exploit Bayesian inference to expand the scope of application of FORMA.