Revealing of medical and biological relevant cellular processes by automated time lapse microscopy

The investigation of medical and biological relevant cellular processes by live cell imaging approaches becomes more and more popular. Developments in the fields of live cell incubation chambers, stable long term fluorescent dyes as well as the development of sophisticated image processing software provide the basis for a scalable and parallelized bioimaging approach developed in our institute. A new method allows the determination of attachment kinetics and mechanisms of human embryonic stem cells (H1, hESC) in co-culture with murine embryonic fibroblasts (MEF, ""feeder cells""). Towards the development of a colon cancer model for drug discovery, a three dimensional cell system could be developed and analyzed by our system. Here we want to present recent results dealing with H1 growth and first steps in the development of a colon cancer model. Cognitions derived from these experiments could lead to functionality assays for hESC and to drug screening assays in colon cancer research.