the surface of the sample to perform a measurement. In the case of AFM, the time required to spatially map the surface elasticity of the sample depends on its extension and may typically be of several minutes. This fact limits its applications to systems that changes over timescales shorter than the AFM scan. AFM spatial mapping requires relatively flat samples, a constraint that may limit its applications in developing 3D embryos. Finally, obtaining the elastic modulus from the AFM response curves requires fitting the data to models of such response (e.g., Hertz model) that involve several assumptions .