Lights, Camera, Action!

Understanding the vast array of diverse biochemical processes of the living cell is paramount to not only gaining an insight into the living organism as a whole, but also discovering when these cellular processes break down. Whilst innovative and specialised techniques have been instrumental for many advances in molecular biology, many questions concerning the structure and function of cells can only be answered by observing living cells. Live-cell imaging offers the power of capturing the dynamics of biological action in live cells and in real-time, something not previously available with biochemical approaches. Among the many optical tools that enable the capture of these cellular and molecular events, bio-luminescence imaging offers important opportunities. Although the concept of bio-luminescence microscopy (BLM) is not a novel one, recent advances introduced with new specialised imaging systems have made it a more realistic procedure.