Extension of elastographic methods to a microscopic scale is expected to provide invaluable information on soft tissue mechanobiology, by facilitating hitherto impossible experiments to study the relationship between local variations in extracellular matrix stiffness and cellular behaviour. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an optical backscatter imaging modality with micron-scale resolution, and ability to measure the sub-micron displacements associated with low-amplitude shear deformation. OCT should therefore be a good imaging modality on which to base a future microelastography system.