Phasefocus Livecyte

Kinetic Cytometer

• Livecyte measures individual cell growth independently from proliferation

• Cell growth is more complex than just cells multiplying

• They can increase in size without dividing, they can divide asymmetrically, they can grow to a certain size then stop. All these aspects of cell growth are lost with most live cell assays. Not with Livecyte

• Directly measure cell motility with individual cells

• Separate out migration from proliferation in a single experiment

• Observe differences between leading edge and following cells

• Correlate motility to morphological differences

Read the Application Note 'Single Cell Scratch Assay' from Phasefocus here.

• Livecyte automatically tracks cells, even in a 96-well plate

• Just seed your cells, monitor with Livecyte and a full range of cell migration parameters will be generated

• Compare the speed, directionality, confinement and heterogeneity of different populations

• Directly measure mitotic time with individual cells

• Measure random and chemotactic migration

• Identify and characterise differences in subpopulations in heterogenous primary cultures

• Correlate motility to morphological differences

• Generate statistically valid results from multiple repeats in 96-wells

Application notes

• Characterisation of Sub-populations of Heterogenous Patient Derived Primary Prostate Epithelial Cell Cultures 
• Automated Determination of Mitotic Time on Livecyte
• Dynamic and Morphological Phenotypic Characterisation

• True label-free cell count, not just confluence

• Monitor dry mass to automatically determine viability and cell death

• Statistically robust results from multiple repeats in 96-well plates

• Generate label-free dose-response curves

• Identify dynamic toxic responses missed by other methods

Application notes

• Label-free Calculation of Cell Death Response Curve
• Cell Cytoxicity Assay

• Label-free timelapse tube formation assays

• High-resolution large fields-of-view with no stitching

• Perform assays on Matrigel and standard plates

• Automated post-acquisition focus ensures consistent image quality for every well

• Simple, yet powerful analysis of tube formation metrics with Application Dashboard outputs

• Identify morphological phenotypes

• Watch and quantify cell differentiation

• Monitor stem cell populations, for many days, without perturbing cell behaviour

• Image through plastic and coated plates

• Image on extracellular matrices

• Cells are still viable after imaging

Researching therapies for spinal cord injuries

The Clem Jones Centre for Neurobiology and Stem Cell Research at Griffith University in Brisbane is using the Livecyte to research therapies for spinal cord injuries. Professor James St John heads the Spinal Injury Project based at the centre with research funded by the Perry Cross Foundation. The project is looking to begin human clinical trials to test cell transplantation therapy and repair spinal cord injury, ultimately leading to restoration of function. The Livecyte will be used to perform critical cell analysis and develop a pre-screening process before cell transplantation and human clinical trials.

You can learn more about this ground-breaking research and the role of the Livecyte in it by clicking the button below.

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Shaping endothelial research

Assistant Professor at the School of Pharmacy Dr. Laura Kilpatrick (inset) is investigating if endothelial cells behave similarly to human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC).

The Livecyte is being used by the University of Nottingham at its Centre of Membrane Proteins and Receptors (COMPARE) to noninvasively monitor the morphological phenotype and behaviour of immortalised endothelial cells. As fluorescent labels can perturb the natural behaviour of cells, the Livecyte is an excellent instrument for cell research because it uses ptychographic quantitative phase imaging (QPI) for label-free assays.

Assistant Professor at the School of Pharmacy Dr. Laura Kilpatrick is investigating if endothelial cells behave similarly to human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC), and that genetic mutation was not altering their phenotype. A hallmark of the endothelial phenotype is their ability to form new blood vessels in a process called angiogenesis.

Click the button below to find out what Dr. Kilpatrick had to say about the Livecyte and her research.

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Identifying different phenotypic changes

The Livecyte is being used at the University of York’s core imaging facility to answer a variety of scientific questions previously unanswered by modern imaging techniques. In our most recent video, we spoke to several researchers from the university’s Imaging & Cytometry Laboratory to find out how the Livecyte has enabled their research.

Dr. Will Brackenbury carries out research in cellular electrophysiology and has been using the Livecyte to generate high quality, reproducible data. His work primarily focuses on understanding ion movement through channels in cell membranes, with the hope to identify these channels as therapeutic targets in the future.

Dr. Laura Wiggins uses the Livecyte to study cell phenotyping; the ability to profile a cell in terms of its shape, size, texture, and motility. Automated single cell tracking of even the most sensitive cells quickly reveals subtle phenotypic differences in unperturbed cell populations.

Watch our video above or click the button below to find out more.

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Identifying the role of HECTD2 in the cellular proliferation of melanoma cells

Dr. Eleonora Ottina and her team at the Francis Crick Institute have used the Livecyte to identify a new role of the ubiquitin ligase HECTD2 in the cellular proliferation of melanoma cells, which has been suggested as controlling inflammation and immunity in melanoma patients. Ottina et al. studied the gene-expression profile of melanoma patients and discovered several cell cycle genes associated with HECTD2 expression, which were upregulated.

You can find out about the team's research by clicking button below.

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Cancer and vascular research

The Livecyte has been installed at Texas Tech University’s core imaging facility at the Amarillo Research Building. Dr. Constantinos Mikelis, Adjunct Associate Professor, and Dr. Ulrich Bickel, Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, have been using the cytometer for cancer and vascular research in pharmaceutical sciences.

Click the button below to watch an interview with Dr. Mikelis and Dr. Bickel about their work.

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High-content imaging and cell analysis in the study of melanocytes

The Phasefocus has been used by Dr. Robert Judson-Torres’s research group at the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Utah. Working in collaboration with McNeal et al. from the University of California, they investigated how melanocyte cells switch from stable nevus cells to cancerous melanoma cells, and how previously benign melanomas may re-exhibit growth after cell cycle arrest.

Click the button below to read more about this collaborative research.

“Sheer depth of analytical possibility.”

Greg Perry is Image Resource Facility Microscopy Manager at St George’s University of London where a Phasefocus was installed to support a research groups looking at vascular biology, prostate cancer, and lymphoedema.

Click the button below to watch our interview with Greg.

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