stem cell research
Yes stem cell imaging is what we like
hypoxia chamber
confluency algoritm
The CytoSMART Omni is ideal to perform kinetic assays to map cell proliferation, which we use as a tool to understand drug resistance in pancreatic cancer cell lines.
Dr. Martin Sprick | Senior Group Leader
Heidelberg Institute for Stem Cell Technology and Experimental Medicine
time lapsing
label-free imaging of live cells
Stem cells have distinct morphological characteristics and growth patterns. Being able to explore and quantify these can be greatly beneficial for culture optimization and assay development. Clonogenic assays and wound healing assays are standard assays that benefit from whole-well analysis. Alternatively for comparative single cell tracking we recommend the CytoSMART Lux2 Duo Kit.
Are you looking for more information on stem cell types, their isolation, culturing methods and applications? We have a collection of resources on induced pluripotent stem cells, neural stem cells and mesenchymal stem cells from the umbilical cord and bone marrow.
Technical specifications
Videos
Appnotes
Cell Motility Video Monitoring - Lux2
Cell Cytoxicity Assay to Analyze Drug Response
Cell Culture Monitoring - Lux2
Cell Motility Video Monitoring - Lux2
Movement of cells plays a critical role in the development of cancer. Analyzing the motility of cells in vitro is therefor important for many cancer researchers.
Live-cell imaging, and in particular label-free live-cell imaging, is well suited to capture dynamic processes in cell culture without potential side-effects of markers or dyes on the cells. In the text below we will discuss the suitability of the CytoSMARTTM
Lux for several assays relevant for cancer research
We will discuss
- Introduction to the Lux cell monitoring system
- Tube formation assays
- 2D migration assays
- 3D invasion assays
Cell Cytoxicity Assay to Analyze Drug Response
The effect of drugs and drug candidates on the viability of cells in culture can be determined using cell counting, live/dead assays and metabolic assays. However, these assays are often end-point measurements. Alternatively, cells can be monitored using bright-field microscopy, by creating time-lapse videos for a culture period of multiple days. To study the lasting effect of the drug candidate.
In this study the cytotoxic effect of Paclitaxel, a chemotherapy drug, was investigated for a range of concentrations. The effect on cell viability between drug concentrations was compared by analyzing confluency measurements obtained using automated live-cell imaging. The entire experiment was performed inside a CO2-incubator, ensuring optimal culturing conditions and cells were imaged every hour for a period of 3 days.
Cell Culture Monitoring - Lux2
Setting up cell cultures is easy enough. However monitoring your cultures and optimization is time-consuming and cumbersome. Waiting for the ideal confluency, quickly studying effects of various media means taking your cells in and out of the incubator more often than you would like.
Visualizing cell cultures from inside an incubator using a compact microscope that facilitates live cell imaging can overcome these issues. While live cell imaging has been restricted to costly, high-end devices, the CytoSMART Lux2 offers an affordable and easy-to-use alternative for virtually any lab. The CytoSMART Lux2 can be set up in minutes, enabling untrained users to quickly perform their own time-lapse recordings.
Images and videos can be easily accessed and retrieved from the CytoSMART cloud portal. Advanced functions, such as reporting of cell confluency, cell migration analysis and the option to use automatic confluency email alerts, can be applied to inform the user when certain culture conditions are reached (for example, once the cell culture has reached the desired confluency). Hence, the CytoSMART Lux2 can be used in many different ways to facilitate cell culture work and research.
In the following appnote several examples of applications of the CytoSMART Lux2 will be shown.
- Culturing cells in hypoxic conditions
- Standardizing cell culturing conditions
- The effect of confluency on transfection efficiency