Light microscopy techniques for live cell imaging

Abstract

Since the earliest examination of cellular structures, biologists have been fascinated by observing cells using light microscopy. The advent of fluorescent labeling tech-nologies plus the plethora of sophisticated light microscope techniques now available make studying dynamic processes in living cells almost commonplace. For anyone new to this area, however, it can be daunting to decide which techniques or equipment to try. Here, we aim to give a brief overview of the main approaches to live cell imaging, with some mention of their pros and cons. We have an incredibly detailed view of how proteins and lipids interact inside cells to govern the generation, maintenance, and function of cellular organization, as deter-mined from biochemical and genetic experi-ments spanning diverse approaches from in vitro reconstitution of cellular processes to atomic resolution structure determination