Digital Cell Imaging Systems
Digital cell imaging systems from benchtop fluorescence to high-content screening
The CELENA family of digital cell imaging systems from Logos Biosystems lets you capture publication-quality images without a full microscope setup.
The CELENA S is a compact imager with precision optics, a sensitive CMOS sensor, and digitally controlled LED light sources with hard-coded fluorescence filters for your assays. Its software handles multicolour fluorescence, brightfield, and phase contrast, plus live-cell time-lapse and Z-stack imaging, with the analysis you need built in.
The CELENA X is a high-content system for rapid acquisition and quantification across well plates and slides. It adds a motorised XYZ stage and image-based and laser autofocus. Its CELENA X Cell Analyser software lets you set up image-analysis sequences that measure cellular features across fixed and live-cell assays.
Both systems replace a stack of separate parts in your workflow: the fluorescence microscope, camera, external analysis software, and computer. You get one integrated unit instead. Logos Biosystems supplies both CELENA systems.
Imaging systems by need
1) Routine fluorescence and culture imaging. The CELENA S fits here, for multicolour fluorescence, brightfield and phase contrast, time-lapse, and Z-stack on your bench.
2) High-content screening and quantification. The CELENA X fits here, for your well-plate and slide imaging with a motorised XYZ stage and autofocus.
3) Image analysis. The integrated CELENA S software handles your routine analysis. The CELENA X Cell Analyser handles multi-step quantitative sequences across fixed and live-cell assays.
4) Configuration. Configurations are matched to your fluorophores, throughput, and assay type.
Applications
- Live-cell time-lapse imaging. Time-lapse acquisition tracks migration, wound closure, division, and reporter expression over hours to days, using cell tracking reagents.
- Fixed-cell immunofluorescence. Multi-channel imaging quantifies nuclear morphology, organelle distribution, and protein localisation across hundreds of fields per well.
- High-content screening. Motorised plate-stage systems image every well of a 96- or 384-well plate, scoring phenotypes such as apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, or neurite outgrowth in your model.
- Z-stack 3D imaging. Z-stack acquisition resolves 3D structures in organoids, spheroids, and thick sections, supporting the workflows you build around 3D cell culture systems.
- Multi-channel reporter assays. Fluorescence channels discriminate GFP, RFP, and DAPI at the same time, reducing the number of separate imaging runs in your experiment.
- Viability and apoptosis assays. Nuclear morphology scores viability, EdU or BrdU incorporation reports proliferation, and Annexin V staining scores apoptosis, complementing your automated cell counters.
Frequently asked questions
What is high-content screening and how does it differ from standard fluorescence microscopy?
High-content screening acquires images automatically from many wells or fields. Software then extracts quantitative phenotypic measurements from each cell, instead of relying on visual inspection. A standard fluorescence microscope needs manual positioning and manual scoring.
High-content systems motorise the stage and autofocus at every position. They run image analysis pipelines that can score thousands of cells per well. This makes compound or genetic screens statistically reliable.
What types of assay are run on digital cell imaging systems?
Common assays include cell viability and cytotoxicity by nuclear count and morphology, and proliferation by EdU or BrdU incorporation. Other assays include apoptosis by caspase activation or Annexin V staining, and cell migration and wound healing.
Further examples are neurite outgrowth and morphology in neuronal cultures, organoid size and shape, protein translocation between cytoplasm and nucleus, and reporter gene expression using fluorescent proteins.
When should I use a digital imaging system instead of flow cytometry?
Imaging preserves spatial information. You can see where a protein sits within the cell, whether cells are in contact, and how morphology relates to marker expression. Flow cytometry is faster for single-marker quantification across large cell numbers, but it loses positional context.
Imaging suits adherent cells that are hard to detach, 3D structures, and any assay where location within the cell or tissue is the readout.
What is Z-stack imaging and when is it needed?
Z-stack imaging captures a series of focal planes through a sample at set intervals and reconstructs a 3D image. You need it when the feature of interest extends through the sample depth, as in organoids, spheroids, thick tissue sections, or cells with structures in multiple planes.
Without Z-stacking, out-of-focus signal from above or below the focal plane reduces contrast. This can cause under- or over-counting of structures.