Biomass deposition onto an adsorbent matrix can severely affect early downstream bioprocessing performance e.g., during expanded bed adsorption. Cell deposition phenomena are sensitive to the nature of the interacting cells and matrix bodies and to the solution chemistry, but also depend on the exerted hydrodynamic shear forces. Strong adhesion forces require high hydrodynamic shear for cell detachment, e.g., approximate to 1400 pN would be needed to detach a yeast cell from a DEAE Sepharose bead. Both adhesion and detachment forces can be reduced by spontaneous coverage of the adsorbent surface with polyvinyl pyrrolidone. For comparison, only approximate to 270 pN would be required to remove such a cell deposited onto a Chelating-Cu2+ bead. First examples of corroborating calculated XDLVO interaction energies by direct force measurements with an atomic force microscopy are presented. Evaluating interfacial forces at the nanoscale can allow for an optimized bioprocess and adsorbent design.