A Moment in the Life of a Cell: Microscopic scan images without intruding

A new imaging tool could enable researchers to get three-dimensional images of single living cells without resorting to the time-honored procedure of staining their inner structures with chemicals.

INTIMATE VIEW. Nucleoli in this cervical cancer cell appear green, indicating slower light propagation than in the cytoplasm, which appears red. Choi

“We can image the cell as it is,” says Wonshik Choi of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).