How do organelles move?

Organelles are extremely important components of the cell. Each one of them carries vital functions. Among many other functions, mitochondria produce ATP, the energy currency inside the cell, constitute signaling pathways, carry calcium ions… Lipid droplets act like reservoirs for neutral lipids and regulate lipid metabolism.

These functions demand high dynamics and motion towards specific parts of the cell. How do organelles identify the regions that they need to go to? What combination of random walk search and directed motion do they use? What physical quantities do they optimize?

To answer these questions, long live-cell imaging movies need to be analyzed. However, limitations due to labeling make this task almost impossible. Indeed,

photobleaching makes imaging time window short, and phototoxicity from the laser leads to unhealthy cells.

With the help of Deep Leaning, in Silico labeling of live-cell holographic phase contrast movies, which do not rely on fluorescence is feasible. Consequently, the study of long-term organelle motility through experiments is possible.