
15
Time-Lapse Imaging
Erik Meijering, Ihor Sma l, Oleh Dzyubachyk,
and Jean-Christophe Olivo-Marin
15.1 Introduction
By their very nature, biological systems are dynamic, and a proper understanding
of the cellular and molecular processes underlying living organisms and how to
manipulate them is a prerequisite to combating diseases and improving human
health care. One of the major challenges of current biomedical research, there-
fore, is to unravel not just the spatial organization of these complex systems, but
their spatiotemporal relationships as well [1]. Catalyzed by substantial improve-
ments in optics hardware, electronic imaging sensors, and a