Andrew E. Pelling is an assistant professor cross-appointed in the Departments of Physics and Biology at the University of Ottawa. He was named a Canada Research Chair in 2008, received an NSERC Discovery Accelerator Supplement Award in 2009 and an Ontario Early Researcher Award in 2010. Andrew completed his undergraduate studies at University of Toronto (1997-2001), his PhD under the supervision of James K. Gimzewski at the University of California, Los Angeles (2001-2005) and his post-doctoral research as a Senior Research Fellow at the London Centre for Nanotechnology, University College London with Michael A. Horton (2005-2008). Andrew leads the Pelling Lab for Biological Physics, which is comprised of people from a wide variety of scientific backgrounds. The Pelling Lab is primarily focused on the integration of multiple optical techniques with nanomechanical probes to study how forces can be used to manipulate and control single cells, tissues, organs and whole organisms. The research in the Pelling Lab exists at the interface of several scientific disciplines (cell and molecular biology, artificial tissues, optics, physics and engineering) in order to study cell biophysics, stem cell fate, cancer cell biology and muscular diseases. Andrew’s work is highly collaborative and exploratory and is always open to new directions and ideas.