Automated · Label-free · Inside Your Incubator

Time-Lapse Cell Imaging — Continuous, Automated, Unattended

Capture every moment of cell behavior — migration, division, morphology changes — with automated time-lapse imaging inside your CO₂ incubator. 24 wells in parallel. Images every 5 minutes. No manual timepoints. No incubator disruption.

Book Free Demo → Scratch Assay Protocol

5 min

Minimum imaging interval

Wells simultaneously

14 days

Maximum experiment duration

5MP

Brightfield resolution

zenCELL owl · Time-Lapse · Brightfield · 24-channel

Scratch Assay Time-Lapse

Cell Migration 48h

Spheroid Growth

What is Time-Lapse Cell Imaging?

Capture Cell Dynamics Over Time — Not Just Snapshots

Time-lapse cell imaging captures sequential brightfield images of living cells at defined intervals — from minutes to hours — over the course of an entire experiment. The result is a continuous kinetic dataset that reveals cellular dynamics invisible to endpoint assays.

Unlike conventional microscopy that requires removing cells from the incubator, zenCELL owl captures time-lapse sequences automatically inside your CO₂ incubator — without disrupting temperature, humidity or gas exchange.

Wound closure kinetics — full gap closure curve, not just T0 and T24
Cell division events captured in real time
Morphology changes during drug treatment — onset, peak, recovery
Spheroid growth curves over days without incubator disruption
Contamination detected early — before the experiment is lost
Export as AVI time-lapse video, PNG stack, or CSV kinetic data

See Time-Lapse Live →

How It Works

From Setup to Publication-Ready Data

Place zenCELL owl in Incubator

1.5 kg · 18×18×10 cm · fits any CO₂ incubator shelf. One USB-C cable to your PC. No installation required.

Configure Time-Lapse Experiment

Set imaging interval (5 min – 24h), experiment duration (up to 14 days), and select wells. AI autofocus calibrates automatically.

Automated Imaging Runs Unattended

zenCELL owl captures brightfield images of all 24 wells at every interval. Monitor remotely from any device, anywhere.

Export & Analyze

AVI time-lapse video, PNG image stack, CSV kinetic data. Full ImageJ integration. Publication-ready output.

Validated Applications

What You Can Study with Time-Lapse Imaging

All validated across published research. Label-free. Brightfield. Inside the incubator.

Why Automated Time-Lapse Wins

Criterion	zenCELL owl · Automated	Manual Microscopy
Imaging interval	Every 5 minutes · continuous	Every 2–6 hours · manual
Incubator disruption	✓ None — device stays inside	✗ Every timepoint
Operator time	Setup once · runs unattended	Present at every timepoint
Missed timepoints	✓ Impossible	✗ Nights / weekends / illness
Data consistency	✓ Identical conditions every frame	✗ Variable — different operators
Wells in parallel	24 simultaneously	1 at a time
Remote monitoring	✓ Any device, anywhere	✗ Must be in lab
Output format	AVI · PNG · CSV · ImageJ	Manual photos / inconsistent

FAQ

Time-Lapse Imaging — Common Questions

What is the minimum imaging interval with zenCELL owl? +

The minimum imaging interval is 5 minutes per well. With 24 wells, the system captures one complete scan of all wells every 5 minutes continuously — generating up to 288 image sets per day per well. For longer experiments, intervals of 15–30 minutes are common.

How long can a time-lapse experiment run? +

Up to 14 days continuously without interruption. Storage is only limited by your PC hard drive — at 5-minute intervals over 14 days, typical storage requirements are 20–50 GB per experiment depending on image size settings.

Can I monitor the experiment remotely? +

Yes — zenCELL owl software provides remote access from any device via a web browser. You can view live images, check confluency curves, and receive automated alerts when defined thresholds are reached — from home, on weekends, or from another country.

What file formats does the time-lapse output? +

AVI time-lapse video (per well), PNG image stack for ImageJ analysis, and CSV kinetic data (confluency, gap area, or custom metrics vs. time). All formats are publication-ready and compatible with GraphPad Prism, Excel, and R.

Does time-lapse imaging affect cell health? +

No. zenCELL owl uses brightfield (transmitted light) imaging with a ~408 nm UV-A/visible LED light source at very low intensity. Cells remain inside the incubator at stable temperature and CO₂ throughout. Phototoxicity is not a concern for standard brightfield time-lapse experiments.

See Time-Lapse Cell Imaging Live

Watch zenCELL owl capture real cells in real time — scratch assay, confluency monitoring, spheroid growth — all in a free 20-minute MS Teams demo.

Book Free Demo → View Scratch Assay Protocol

Time-Lapse Cell Imaging — Continuous, Automated, Unattended

Capture Cell Dynamics Over Time — Not Just Snapshots

From Setup to Publication-Ready Data

What You Can Study with Time-Lapse Imaging

Why Automated Time-Lapse Wins

Time-Lapse Imaging — Common Questions

See Time-Lapse Cell Imaging Live

See zenCELL owl Live — 30 Min. - Free -

Real cells. Real data. AI cell counting, XYZ stage & full software — live inside the incubator. Twice a week via MS Teams.

Book Your Free Remote Demo

See zenCELL owl
Live — 30 Min.
- Free -

Real cells. Real data. AI cell counting,
XYZ stage & full software — live inside the incubator. Twice a week via MS Teams.