HoloMonitor M4: A live cell imaging system for cell incubators or hypoxia chambers

HoloMonitor® Live Cell Imaging System

Plain HoloMonitor logo in PHI blue

The HoloMonitor® live cell imaging system is your comprehensive single-cell level imaging solution, seamlessly fitting within a standard CO₂ incubator. It includes the compact HoloMonitor live cell microscope and its powerful App Suite software for automated cell imaging and analysis. The fluorescence add-on extends the tool’s versatility and applications even more. We designed HoloMonitor by and for cell biologists, ensuring cell-friendly imaging at its best.

Read more about HoloMonitor in its role as…

The HoloMonitor HoloLids are specially designed to eliminate image disturbances, caused by surface vibrations and condensation inside the cell culture vessel.

A Cell Culture Microscope

The main purpose of the HoloMonitor system is to monitor, record and analyze your cell cultures in the least invasive way possible, even in long-term experiments.

The HoloMonitor microscope photographed from the side, placed inside a standard incubator.

An Incubator Microscope

The compact HoloMonitor microscope is built to work inside your standard incubator. Thus, it ensures stable and physiologically relevant conditions.

Zoomed view of yellow L929 cells on a bright blue background

A Live Cell Imaging System

HoloMonitor does not need any labels or stains to visualize your cells. Hence, it has minimal impact on your cells, allowing long-term live cell monitoring.

Why HoloMonitor?

Cell-friendly.

  • Avoid known interference of cellular markers for biologically relevant results.

Compact.

  • Small footprint to bring imaging inside your incubator.

Affordable.

  • Not all live cell imaging microscopes have to be expensive.

Automated.

  • Get immediate real-time data and image sequences.

Easy-to-use.

  • Intuitive software to guide you from imaging to analysis.

Physiological.

  • Controlled conditions matter for your cell culture.
The HoloMonitor live cell imager viewed from the front

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The HoloMonitor Hardware

Base unit of the HoloMonitor cell culture microscope

Imaging Unit

The compact base unit is the actual microscope, placed in your incubator together with the motorized stage. It is responsible for continuously imaging your live cell cultures.

HoloMonitor base unit with the motorized stage quantitative cell imaging

Motorized Stage

The motorized stage supports a variety of culture vessels. Moreover, it enables automated and continuous imaging of multiple positions in your sample.

The laser unit of the HoloMonitor live cell imaging system

Laser Unit

The laser unit, placed outside your incubator, supplies the system’s low-energy laser for label-free holographic live cell imaging that leaves your cells unaffected.

HoloMonitor M4FL white

Fluorescence

The add-on fluorescence unit makes it possible to add a green fluorescence dimension to the label-free holography data and study your cells’ behavior in more detail.

Technical Specifications

Technical Information

Sample stage Fixed
Light source External laser unit, 635 nm
Sample illumination 635 nm, 0.2 mW/cm²
Lateral resolution 1 µm
Field of view 0.25 mm²
Working distance 0.5–2.0 mm
Autofocusing range 1.5 mm
Maximum image rate 1 image/s
Image size 1024 × 1024 pixels
Dimensions 290×200×190mm (W × D × H)
Weight 5.15 kg
Cell culture vessels 6-well, 24-well, 96-well, Petri, IBIDI
Power supply International 110–240 V
Interface cable USB
Warranty 1 year

Sarstedt 35 mm Petri dishes
Sarstedt 6-well plates
Sarstedt Lumox 24-well plates
Sarstedt Lumox 96-well plates
IBIDI plastic ware (channel slides, chemotaxis slides, wound healing inserts)

We always recommend using our HoloLids™ for optimal optical performance.

Regulatory Compliance

Electromagnetic compatibility 2014/30/EU and 2014/35/EU (low voltage directive)
Safety requirements IEC 61010-1:2010 (electrical equipment for measurement, control and laboratory use)
Safety of laser products IEC 60825-1:2014

CE marking is subject to the general principles set out in Article 30 of Regulation (EC) No 765/2008.

Requirements

Sample and environment

Cells Monolayer of adherent cells
Incubator Access port for cabling
Operating temperature 10–40°C
Operating humidity Max 95%

Computer

Operating system
Operating system Windows 10, 64-bit
Processor Intel Core i7
Memory 16 GB RAM (8 GB minimum)
Hard drive 512 GB SSD (256 GB minimum) and external USB3 hard drive for backup and transfer
Display Full HD (1920 × 1080) or higher

For service purposes, it is convenient if the computer has internet access. However, we recommend disabling the internet connection during experiments, as automatic Windows updates may disrupt them.

Technical Information

Repeatability 5 µm
Travel range 100 × 70 × 10 mm (X × Y × Z)
Dimensions* 290 × 200 × 185 mm (W × D × H)
Operational dimensions* 375 × 260 × 185 (W × D × H)
Minimum space inside the incubator 400 × 270 × 185 (W × D × H)
Weight* 5.5 kg
Operating temperature 10–40°C
Operating humidity Max 95%
Cell culture vessel support 6-well, 24-well, 96-well, Petri, IBIDI
Warranty 1 year

*Including the base unit

Technical Information

Exposure time 5 ms, non-scanning
Light source External laser unit, 635 nm
Sample illumination 0.2 mW/cm²
Power supply International 110–240 V
Interface cable USB
Warranty 1 year

Technical Information

1-channel fluorescence Optimized for EGFP (FITC-Cy2)
Excitation 470 nm filtered LED, with bandwidth (FWHM): 40 nm
Emission 525 nm filtered, with bandwidth (FWHM): 50 nm
Exposure time 1 – 1000 ms
Gain 1 – 4
Magnification 10x, matched with mounted HoloMonitor M4
Sensor 1280 x 1024 px, 1.31 MPix
Image Resolution 0.5 µm
Field of view 0.25 mm²
Image size 1024 × 1024 pixels
Dimensions 310 x 180 x 85 mm (W × D × H)
Weight 4.0 kg
Power < 5 W
Interface USB connector
Software requirement HoloMonitor App Suite software 4.0
Operating environment 10 – 50 °C, < 95 % relative humidity

The HoloMonitor Software

The heart of HoloMonitor is the modular App Suite software, with tailor-made apps for different live cell assays. Each app offers a guided setup of your experiment, automatic image collection and real-time data analysis and presentation.

Moreover, App Suite excels when it comes to data re-analysis. Every experiment contains all the data necessary to reanalyze it as another type of experiment. For example, a proliferation assay can be reanalyzed as a motility assay at a later point. Hence, no need to spend time, money and cells on a new experiment!

HoloMonitor Live Cell Assays

The Workflow

Designed with cell biologists, the HoloMonitor App Suite software offers a simple and intuitive user interface, guiding you through the workflow from experiment setup to data presentation in 5 steps.

Workflow of the HoloMonitor cell imaging software, App Suite

In addition, you can easily create colorful videos and images to present your results. Of course, all data can also be exported to Microsoft Excel for further analysis.

Best microscope I’ve tried so far—worth every penny!

Markus Bosteen
Senior Scientist, Novo Nordisk, Copenhagen

HoloMonitor Accessories

24-well HoloLid and plate mounted on plate holder

Culture Vessel Holders

HoloMonitor’s motorized stage supports a variety of culture vessels, each secured with a vessel holder. This means easy attachment and exact positioning on the microscope.

Hand placing 6-well HoloLid on 6-well microplate

HoloLids™

HoloLids are specially designed lids for standard cell culture vessels. They are optically superior to normal vessel lids and ensure the best possible image quality every time.

The HoloDry canister together with the included timestrip

HoloDry™

HoloDry is a non-toxic canister that is easily attached to the HoloMonitor microscope. It keeps the optics and interior free of condensation, which ensures optimal performance.