Automated microscope gives a look inside live cell populations

From now on scientists can look at how living cells function and react under various experimental conditions, in parallel and throughout a the cell's lifetime. With the new 3D microscope unveiled today by EPFL spin-off Nanolive, researchers can observe the details of how cells operate - all the way down to their organelles. What's more, the microscope is fully automated and doesn't damage the cells being studied. From now on, live cells will keep no more secrets. Scientists will be able to see first-hand how they function, including how their organelles interact and react to stimuli. Nanolive, an EPFL spin-off founded in 2013, has just developed a groundbreaking microscope that lets researchers watch living cells directly, continuously, and without harming them. That paves the way to important discoveries about biological processes that until now have been insufficiently understood because of the lack of a reliable way to observe them.