Non-invasive, label free, quantitative characterisation of live cells in monolayer culture

This paper presents the development of an evanescent wave light microscope and predictive software to enable the quantitative study of cellular processes and live cell quality at high resolution and without the use of labels. Using the proposed technique, the current measurement capabilities of live cell light microscopy will be extended as critical data such as cell adhesion, will be extracted and quantified. In particular, mouse neural stem cells are studied using TIRM technique. Results show that TIRM images are high in information content containing details about cell morphology, cell adhesion and through the combination with time-lapse imaging provide information on cell dynamic processes and motility.