The drugs to be tested work by latching onto the bacteria and literally ripping its cell wall to pieces, exposing the vulnerable core to destruction by the surrounding environment. When a drug can latch onto the mucopeptide, it bends the cantilever and alters the reflection of the laser. The response to the drug can be observed almost instantly. While this technique only works for surface-latching antibiotics (by no means the only antibiotic mechanism), Professor McKendry and colleagues are already planning an upgrade where entire bacterial cells will be pinned to the nano-lever and stretched by drugs.