Abstract
The first biological element that materials, including biomolecules and exogenous/artificial factors, contact with is the cell membrane. The interface between the materials and the cell membrane is the first gateway for the materials. It is the place for a living organism to decide the fate of materials：to be “rejected,”“avoided,” or “tolerated.” This review will introduce high-speed live-cell atomic force microscopy to observe the material-cell membrane interface and fluorescence bioimaging to visualize cellular responses against the materials. Prospects for their correlative imaging will also be discussed. These technologies must provide a better understanding of how the strength of material-cell membrane interaction is decoded and how it determines the fate of cell and materials. In other words, they might be the basis to realize weak and specific interaction and the material symbiosis.
