This Feature Application highlights the huge potential of Nanolive cell imaging for metabolic studies. We begin by proving that mitochondria and LDs have specific RI signals that allow them to be identified and mapped, in 3D (case study 1). We show that it is possible to image fission-fusion dynamics in mitochondria (case study 2), induce and detect mitochondrial dysfunction (case study 3) and then restore mitochondrial function by the addition of a specific drug (case study 4). Finally, we show that it is possible to quantify LD dynamics in unperturbed (case study 5) and drug-perturbed conditions (case study 6).