Live Cell Imaging – The Fastest Growing Segment in Cell Imaging Market
Live cell imaging is the study of fundamental nature and cellular function of live-cells using instruments such as high content screening systems and time laps microscopes. This business is developing consistently in both developed and developing countries. Developmental biology, drug discovery, stem cells and cell biology are some of the application areas of live cell imaging technique. It can be utilized to concentrate cell respectability, protein trafficking, catalyst action, restriction of particles, exocytosis and endocytosis among others. Moreover, the procedure can be connected to screen the atoms in live creatures. Recently it is seen that numerous pharmaceutical organizations are progressively utilizing live-cell imaging as a part of innovative work with a specific end goal to grow new drugs. Likewise, live-cell imaging is additionally utilized for high substance screening.
High-Content Analysis (HCA), Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET), Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence Microscopy (TRIF), Time-lapse Microscopy, Fluorescence Loss in photobleaching (FLIP), Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS), Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching (FRAP), Multiphoton Excitation Microscopy (MPE), fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), and ratiometric imaging are some of the techniques that has been used for the live-cell imaging market.
A powerful and emerging technique for live-cell imaging is holotomography that is used for real-time and label-free live-cell imaging without harming the cell or tissue. Holotomography is a laser technique to measure 2D, 3D and 4D refractive index images of cell and tissue. The advantages of the convention techniques such as fluorescent microscopes are driving this technique. Fluorescent microscopes have some disadvantages such as continuous sample preparations, the toxicity of staining agents, long time required for imaging and it is limited to qualitative analysis. However, Holotomography no need for sample preparations, no need of staining agents, imaging speed is very fast (0.4s per tomogram) and it enables quantitative analysis.
The Nanolive’s 3D Cell Explorer is one of the microscopes that able to look inside living cells without harming them, in 3D and real-time. It measures the quantitative refractive index of each cell’s organelle at every second and segments this data in 3D/4D using interactive digital stains based on the cell’s physical refractive index. Hence, it is possible to do non-invasive in vitro imaging of almost any kind of cells with up to 30 μm depth of reconstruction. This allows for biological features to be segmented based on their physical characteristics. The holo-tomographic technology proper of the 3D Cell Explorer allows to measure the quantitative refractive index (RI) of the cells’ organelles with nanometric precision and instantly. The 3D Cell Explorer-fluo unveils new dimensions in cell imaging by transforming a simple 2D fluorescent signal into a complete 3D cell tomography, at every second.
In July 2019, Olympus Corporation launched scanR 3.1 High content screening (HCS) station that have the capabilities of artificial intelligence to enable the cutting edge life science research. It combines the modularity and flexibility of a microscope-based setup with the automation, speed, throughput and reproducibility of HCS applications. Using the ‘self-learning microscopy’ concept, scanR 3.1 makes it easy to gather data quickly from large live cell populations for reliable, well-supported experimental results.
According to IQ4I analysis, the live cell imaging market is expected to grow at a rate of high single digit CAGR number from 2018 to 2025 and is expected to reach $3.5 billion to $4.0 billion by 2025. Increase in application of live-cell imaging techniques in personalized medicines and disease diagnosis, and rising demand for monoclonal antibodies in the global population are expected to drive demand through to 2025. Geographically, the market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of World. North America holds the largest market share in 2018, followed by Europe and Asia. The APAC regions tend to be an emerging market with an opportunity for growth and are likely to be a destination of investment for new investors in the live cell imaging market. Drug discovery, services outsourcing and government funding for novel screening technologies have resulted in a growth of Asian markets.
Some of the key players in the global live-cell imaging market are Blue-Ray Biotech (Taiwan), Cherry Biotech (France), PerkinElmer Inc. (U.S.), Becton Dickinson and Company (U.S.), Danaher Corporation (U.S.), GE Healthcare (U.S.), Nanolive SA (Switzerland), Nikon Corporation (Japan), Olympus Corporation (Japan), Merck KgaA (Germany),ThermoFisher Scientific Inc. (U.S.), Tomocube Inc. (U.S.), Carl Zeiss AG (Germany) and Sartorius AG (Germany).