利用活细胞成像系统进行细胞和基因的功能研究，是细胞学研究的趋势。对固定细胞的观察仅能提供固定瞬间细胞的静态信息，无法反映细胞在正常生理生化条件下的状态。活细胞观察是对处于正常生理状况下的细胞进行全程扫描和记录，获得其连续、全面、动态过程。由于其显示的正常细胞动态的活动过程，很容易发现和确定细胞间相互作用和信号传导的过程，以及在活细胞水平上的生物分子间的相互作用，不仅可以解决长期以来悬而未解的问题，更为未来的研究提出新的问题，指出新的方向。
LumaScope是由美国Etaluma公司研发设计的培养箱中活细胞成像的技术创新产品。因其便捷性和高性价比，在细胞状态实时观测（可置于培养箱中）、远程传送和监控等领域受到了广大科研工作者的欢迎。LumaScope具备传统荧光显微镜的功能，可应用于细胞或组织培养实验室的日常细胞观察，已可满足大部分实验室对荧光细胞样品的成像需求。对于部分已有高级荧光显微镜的用户，也可使用此设备作为预览功能使用。LumaScope快速成像且即开即用，同时节约了直接上Confocal和活细胞工作站所带来的耗材成本及排队时间。
Your cells are always happy since they never leave incubator.
User comments:
· "At first I was concerned about just having one color and objective. But it’s like driving an automatic transmission car after learning on a stick shift, you think -- how can a car have just one or 2 gears, that can't be enough. Then you realize you can actually drive in traffic and eat a sandwich at the same time ... the simplicity of Lumascope is really liberating, especially if you're not comfortable with the myriad of adjustments on conventional microscopes."
“LumaScope的操作非常简便，避免了传统显微镜繁杂的操作。就像开自动档汽车一样，你可以一边驾驶一边享受美味的三明治。”
· "the students, found the lumascope very easy to use. These images were taken by the students with very little practice and not a lot of coaching. The controls were intuitive and easy to use, and we were impressed by the image quality. Even a single instrument was sufficient to allow 5 lab groups to take multiple high quality images over the course of about an hour and a half. (Again, on the 1st time using the lumascope.) "
“即使完全未经培训的操作者，也能在非常短的时间内轻松上手，获取高品质的显微照片。”
