Since its introduction in the 1600s, improvements in microscope technology have continually broadened the types of cells and cellular processes that can be studied. Advances in automation have made this already-simple tool faster and more capable, and time-lapse imaging reveals function and dynamics in addition to structure.
Live-cell imaging has enabled us to witness incredible moments in biology in unprecedented detail. Even embryogenesis – the process of cell division and cellular differentiation that occurs at the earliest stages of life – has recently been captured.
Much of what we know about the cell cycle, chromosome segregation errors and the development of cancer has come from live studies of cells exposed to small molecule inhibitors and other drugs.