From mitochondria to lipid droplets – investigating metabolism without labels

Welcome to the August edition of the AI for Live Cell Insights Newsletter, bringing you to the latest live cell analyses powering drug discovery and cosmetics development. Each month, we will explore a new application of AI-based cellular analysis for label-free live cell imaging, with publication highlights and news from Nanolive. This month, our focus is on metabolism, and how Nanolive’s technology supports informed decision-making in both mitochondrial and lipid droplet analyses. Finally, we feature recent publications spanning metabolism, oncology, and drug development.

Driving more informed safety and efficacy decisions with label-free mitochondrial analysis

Figure 1. Plot of the mean count of mitochondrial branches in control and antimycin-treated cells

Download the flyer now to learn more about Nanolive’s Smart Mitochondrial Assay^LIVE.

Nanolive’s Smart Mitochondrial Assay LIVE offers a powerful label-free and automated solution to evaluate mitochondrial health and dynamics in response to treatments. This tool enables scientists to assess compound safety, detect early signs of toxicity and gain deeper insights into the mechanism of action by revealing how drugs influence the cellular metabolism and mitochondrial organization.

With AI-driven analysis of continuous, label-free images, metrics such as mitochondrial branching complexity can be extracted in a single click. This streamlined approach supports faster, more informed decision-making in drug screening, safety, and toxicology studies, helping to prioritize the safest and most effective compounds for further development.

The example below illustrates how easily different conditions can be compared; while control cells show a steady increase in mitochondrial branching over time, antimycin A–treated cells display reduced branching. Label-free images overlaid with digital colors highlight mitochondrial networks, making the changes induced by the treatment immediately visible in a non-invasive manner.

Real-life use cases: Webinar on-demand

Watch now how the Smart Mitochondrial Assay^LIVE delivers label-free, AI-powered insights into mitochondrial dynamics. By providing continuous, quantitative metrics on mitochondrial health and stress, this digital assay sets new standards for evaluating drug safety, uncovering mechanisms of toxicity, and advancing research in mitochondrial disease and oncology, all without bias for faster decision-making.

Watch the webinar: “Redefining Mitochondrial Research: Non-Invasive Imaging & 1-Click Analysis”!

Quantifying lipid droplet dynamics, label-free

In a recent study by Ibanez S. et al., Nanolive’s Smart Lipid Droplet Assay^LIVE, a label-free and  AI-powered solution for monitoring lipid droplet dynamics, was used to assess and quantify lipid droplet accumulation in cancer cells under varying extracellular pH conditions. Researchers continuously monitored lipid droplet dynamics in living cells supplemented with docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Cells exposed to acidic pH displayed a significant increase in lipid droplet formation, whereas the reverse led to reduced accumulation. Lipid droplet area was used to measure accumulation levels, and Nanolive’s label-free approach provided valuable insights into how acidosis drives fatty acid uptake and storage in cancer cells.

Access the full paper here.

Latest publication highlights with Nanolive imaging:

• Metabolism: Ibanez, S. et al. (2025). Acidosis forces fatty acid uptake and metabolism in cancer cells regardless of genotype. Advanced Science, 12(15), 2505436. https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202505436

• Oncology: Xu, Z. et al. (2025). Flemiphilippinin A induces paraptosis in lung cancer cells via c-Myc-driven endoplasmic reticulum stress and CHOP-mediated mitochondrial dysfunction. Phytomedicine, 146, 157098. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phymed.2025.157098

• Cell biology: Radić, B. et al. (2025). Ubiquitination regulates reorganization of the membrane system during cytomegalovirus infection. Life, 15(8), 1212. https://doi.org/10.3390/life15081212

• Drug development: Wu, J. et al. (2025). Nuclear-targeted material enabled intranuclear microRNA imaging for tracking gene editing process. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 64(22). https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202500052

• Aging: Martinez-Gutierrez, A. et al. (2025). Hyaluronic and succinic acid: New biostimulating combination to counteract dermal and subcutaneous aging. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 26(15), 7548. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms26157548

Find over 300 publications featuring Nanolive imaging here.

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