title: Advances in tracking hematopoiesis at the single-cell level.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Studying heterogeneous populations, such as hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), requires continuous long-term observation of living cells at the single-cell level. The purpose of this review is to discuss recent advances in technologies required for continuous single-cell analysis and the contribution of this approach to find answers in hematopoiesis research.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Continuous long-term imaging at the single-cell level still requires custom-made hardware, software and manual in-depth analysis of large amounts of data. Despite these technical difficulties, continuous time-lapse imaging and single-cell tracking are increasingly used in hematopoiesis research. It has already contributed to answering decades-old questions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Continuous long-term single-cell analysis is indispensable for a comprehensive analysis of dynamic processes in heterogeneous cell populations. Despite many remaining technological hurdles, this approach is increasingly used in hematopoiesis research.
authors.affiliation: Research Unit Stem Cell Dynamics, Helmholtz Center Munich - German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Konstantinos D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Kokkaliaris
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Loeffler
authors.forename: Timm
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schroeder
mesh_terms: D006410:Hematopoiesis; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D059010:Single-Cell Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D012984:Software; D013997:Time Factors