Applications

Q-PHASE allows observation of cell reactions to different treatments without any labeling. This innovative approach opens up new opportunities in cancer research. Through experiments, researchers look at how cancer cells behave and try to understand cancer at its deepest levels. Data from experiments can help researchers figure out what controls cell division and cell death, find out what makes cancer cells spread or metastasize, identify unique characteristics of cancer cells to design new therapeutic strategies, and find out why certain cancer cells become resistant to therapy. Additional fluorescence data provides the possibility to simultaneously verify observed processes using a single instrument.

Q-PHASE is a unique instrument dedicated to live cell imaging where advantages such as no need for labeling, low phototoxicity, easy segmentation, cell dry mass interpretation of measured signal, and suitability for long term experiments are used. Q-PHASE is built as a transmitted light microscope in an inverted configuration for easy handling with biological samples. Appropriate conditions for live cells are ensured by the microscope incubator and low exposures of light. Moreover, there is no need for specific sample preparation. The cells are just seeded into a suitable observation chamber and examined.

Q-PHASE enables easy and fast detection of specific cell death without any need for labeling nor additional damage to cells. Thanks to the quantitative phase imaging and advanced analysis software, Q-PHASE provides pre­cise information on morphological changes and dynamics of individual cells during cell death processes. Data obtained by Q-PHASE could help researches not only to distinguish between different types of cell death, but also to assess the rate of cell reactions to drug treatment or other stress conditions, and answer the questions of cancer cell behavior.