Abstract
Measuring cell structure and function along with cell cycle progression in live cell imaging has been
challenging because Fluorescence Ubiquitin Cell Cycle Indicators ( FUCCI) and most phenotypic
sensors both utilize green ( GFP) and red (R FP) fluorescence proteins . We introduce CALIPERS, a
Method
for cell cycle-aware live-cell imaging for phenotyping experiments and regeneration studies .
CALIPERS uses a custom FUCCI sensor called FUCCIplex that spectrally multiplexes with GFP and
RFP-based sensors. To demonstrate the broad range of applications for CALIPERS, we validated it
with epithelial and human induced pluripotent stem cell multi-color reporter lines in proliferation,
migration, cardiac drug testing, and regenerative medicine studies.
Main text
The convergence of -omics and imaging techniques is powering advanced assessments of cellular
phenotypes in basic science 1,2, drug testing 3, and regenerative medicine 4. Further, reference human
induced pluripotent stem cells (h iPSCs) and robust protocols for multilineage differentiation (e.g.,
cardiac muscle cells, h iPSC-CM) strengthened reproducibility5 and extended phenotyping efforts to
organoids6,7 and organs-on-chips8,9. However, the cell cycle (CC) can confound these studies because
gene expression, morphology, and behavior change as cells grow after division (G1 phase), duplicate
their DNA (S), grow before subsequent division s (G2), or divide (M) 10. This is well addressed in
molecular phenotyping, as most -omics efforts are CC-aware thanks to the simultaneous measurement
of many CC genes/proteins 11. However, imaging-based CC-aware phenotyping is challenging.
Structural phenotyping of chemically fixed samples can be made CC -aware via specific staining for
G1/S/G2/M markers12. However, functional phenotyping is only possible through live-cell imaging13,14,
where it is presently difficult to assess the CC together with cell structure and function using standard
fluorescence microscopes. In fact, green and red fluorescent proteins (GFP, RFP) power both
Fluorescence Ubiquitin Cell Cycle Indicators (FUCCI)10 and most phenotypic sensors15.
Here, we introduce a multiplexable FUCCI sensor, FUCCIplex, and demonstrate CC-aware live
imaging for phenotyping experiments and regeneration studies (CALIPERS) in human epithelial cells
(HaCaT, Fig. 1) and h iPSCs (Fig. 2). To create FUCCIplex, we re -placed GFP and RFP in the
fastFUCCI sensor16 with miRFP670 (iRFP) and mTurquoise2 (CFP). Thus, the nucleus of FUCCIplex
cells contains CFP in G1, both CPF and iRFP in the G1-S transition, and only iRFP during the S/G2/M
phases (Fig. 1a). To showcase CALIPERS, we co-expressed FUCCIplex in HaCaT cells together with
the actin-binding peptide RFP-LifeAct17 and used live-cell fluorescence imaging over 40 hours to track
the time cells spent in each CC phase (Fig. 1b and Supplemental Video 1 and 2). We confirmed that
HaCaT cells spent ~40% of their time in G1 and the rest in S/G2/M, in good agreement with CC phase
occupancies measured in static images and flow cytometry experiments with FUCCIplex or a DNA
marker (Fig. 1c -d and Extended Figure 1). Also, we developed an open -source plug-in that converts
CFP and iRFP intensities into a FUCCIphase signal that tracks the CC percent completion and enables
CC-aware morphology and motility analyses (Fig. 1e, Supplemental Video 3, and Extended Figure 2).
.CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseperpetuity. It is made available under a
preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in
The copyright holder for thisthis version posted December 22, 2024. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.19.629259doi: bioRxiv preprint
Di Sante et al CALIPERS - MS Dec 18, 2024
2
To enable long -term live imaging with FUCCIplex, we chose CFP to avoid phototoxic UV -shifted
species18. Since CFP and GFP partially overlap, we developed two approaches to creating four-color
reporter lines . For late CC events like mitotic spindle formation 19, we leverage d the lack of bleed -
through in S/G2/M. We fused GFP to β-tubulin to enable a smart microscopy routine that maximizes
spindle acquisitions and minimizes phototoxicity . We image ten separate cells over 24 h ours by
switching from 2D widefield fluorescence to 3D confocal imaging when the FUCCIphase signal in each
cell reached ~90%. Overall, phototoxicity was comparable with automatically acquiring a volume every
six hours, but s pindle yield was on par with imaging a volume every h our. Thanks to the reduced
phototoxicity, up to five volumes per division could be acquired. (Fig. 1g-h, Extended Figures 3 and 4,
and Supplementary Video 5). Alternatively, for a multiplexing strategy that works in all CC phases, we
combined FUCCIplex with a faster GFP-based calcium sensor, as calcium transient s are orders of
magnitude faster than the CC. To demonstrate this approach, we treated HaCaT cells with a GFP-based
calcium-sensitive dye, imaged ATP -induced calcium releases, and automatically extracted CC -aware
morphological and intensity-based features after removing the static CFP nuclear bleed-through artifact.
(Fig. 1f, Supplemental Video 4, and Supplemental Figure 2).
.CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseperpetuity. It is made available under a
preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in
The copyright holder for thisthis version posted December 22, 2024. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.19.629259doi: bioRxiv preprint
Di Sante et al CALIPERS - MS Dec 18, 2024
3
Figure 1: Demonstrating CALIPERS in HaCaT cells. a) FUCCIplex expected readouts at every cell
cycle (CC) phase and a representation of the multiplexable emission spectra (GFP and RFP spectra are
dashed). b-c) Live imaging of HaCaT cells expressing FUCCIplex (cyan/magenta) and RFP -LifeAct
(grey). Insets show a cell before and after division. d) CC phase occupancy based on flow cytometry of
FUCCIplex-expressing HaCaT (left) or WT cells stained with PI (right). e) A frame from a l ive cell
imaging video of migrating and proliferating HaCaT cells and a portion of the cell hierarchy. The CC
is calculated with an open plugin (FUCCIphase) for every cell and every frame and is used to overlay
the CC percentage with the movie. f) Representative smart microscopy acquisition of mitotic spindle
dynamics in FUCCIplex-LifeAct HaCaT cells with GFP -tagged -tubulin. S tatistical comparison of
smart microscopy spindle yield and phototoxicity versus automatic confocal acquisitions every one or
six hours. Three independent experiments, results as mean ± SD, p<0.05 (*). g) Live imaging of HaCaT
cells with a calcium -sensitive dye ( FLUO-4, yellow), no miRFP670 bleed -through in S/G2/M cells
(panel 1), and CFP bleed-through removal in G1 cells (panel 2). Scale bars: 100 µm (a), 15 µm (b), 25
µm (elsewhere).
.CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseperpetuity. It is made available under a
preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in
The copyright holder for thisthis version posted December 22, 2024. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.19.629259doi: bioRxiv preprint
Di Sante et al CALIPERS - MS Dec 18, 2024
4
Having valida ted CALIPERS with canonical CC events in HaCaT , we deployed it in hiPSCs. To
maximize the multiplexing advantage in the field , we used the same WTC -11 reference hiPSC s that
originated the dozens of lines pre-tagged with GFP and RFP sensors in the Allen Cell Collection5. To
further extend our analysis, we focus on the applications of hiPSC-CMs in drug discovery and
regenerative medicin e, where success depends on CC -aware phenotyping during noncanonical CC
events: CC exits (G0 phase) and re-entries via proliferation, multinucleation, or endoreplication20 (Fig.
2a). Practically, we first engineered a line expressing RFP -LifeAct and GCaMP6f to enable live cell
imaging of two key hiPSC-CM phenotype indicators: myofibril organization and calcium transients
(Extended Fig. 5)13,14. Then, we screened several lentiviral vectors to express FUCCIplex in hiPSCs and
hiPSC-CMs using constitutive and cardiac -specific promoters. Our results confirmed that FUCCIplex
can be expressed in both cell types and that most hiPSC-CMs had G0, cyan nuclei (Extended Figure 6).
We noticed that under the EF1α promoter, FUCCIplex was expressed in hiPSCs, germ layers, and 3D
embryoid bodies but not in hiPSC-CMs, so we used the free far red channel to further multiplex the cell
microtubule dynamics21 (Fig. 2b-c, Extended Figure 7a-c, and Supplementary Video 7).
We reasoned that a hiPSC line in which FUCCIplex turns OFF in hPSC -CMs can be useful in
personalized cardio-oncology22,23, where one starts with the same patient-specific hiPSCs and seeks to
determine a compound’s killing efficiency in cycling tumor cells and its potential toxicity in non -
cycling cardiac muscle. To demonstrate this approach, we differentiated 3D cardioids 6 from an hiPSC
clone before performing single-cell RNA sequencing to confirm the presence of multiple cardiac cell
types and the reduced expression of FUCCIplex in transcriptionally more mature hiPSC-CMs (Fig. 2d-
e, Extended Figure 7d -f and 8, and Supplementary Video 8). Then, we administered the microtubule -
targeting cancer drug nocodazole to cycling and non -cycling hiPSC-derived cells. In cycling cells, we
saw M phase accumulation, abnormal CC re -entry, and cell death, as expected 24 (Extended Figure 7g
and Supplemental Video 9). In hPSC -CMs, we saw reversible microtubule depolymerization but
sustained calcium cycling alterations (Fig. 2f and Supplemental Video 10 -12), suggesting a role for
calcium micro-domains25 in cardio-oncology22,23.
Finally, in cardiac regenerative medicine, there is a need to screen for therapies that induce CC re -
entry26,27 while integrating mature structure and function at the regeneration site 4,28. To this end, we
created a hiPSC stably expressing FUCCIplex by genome-editing it under the control of the constitutive
CAG promoter in the human Rosa26 locus 29 (Extended Figure 9). In the resulting four -color hiPSC
reporter line, terminally differentiated hPSC -CMs expressed nuclear CFP, typical of G0 cells 30.
However, based on far -red fluorescence, we could identify rare hPSC -CMs re-entering the CC and
perform CC -aware structural and functional phenotyping before/after proliferation (Fig 2g and
Supplementary Video 13 -14), multinucleation (Fig 2h and Supplementary Video 15 -16), and
endoreplication (Fig 2i and Supplementary Video 17 -18) events20,30. Notably, these analyses could be
extended in content (Extended Figure 10a and Supplementary Video 19) and throughput (Extended
Figure 10b and Supplementary Video 20).
In conclusion, we introduced CALIPERS, a method for C C-aware live imaging for phenotyping
experiments and regeneration studies that only uses standard microscopes and filter sets. We validated
CALIPERS in live -cell imaging experiments lasting 12 -40 hours, often combining fast functional
acquisition with slower structural changes. Furthermore, we propose a new reference hiPSC line where
FUCCIplex is paired with actin and calcium sensors relevant across indications . We also validated
multiple reagents and strategies to genetically encode FUCCIplex, thus enabling CALIPERS in cell
lines and hiPSCs with arbitrary GFP/RFP-based sensors 15, including the widely adopted cells in the
Allen Cell Collection 5. Finally, we developed freely available software tool s, like FUCCIphase and
FUCCIsmart, that can be adopted with most FUCCI types 10,16. Overall, we are confident that
CALIPERS will extend to live cell imaging the same advantages that CC-awareness offers -omics-
based disciplines.
Materials
and Methods. An extensive materials and methods section is provided in the Supplementary
Information file together with links to GitHub repositories and scRNAseq datasets and analyses.
.CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseperpetuity. It is made available under a
preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in
The copyright holder for thisthis version posted December 22, 2024. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.19.629259doi: bioRxiv preprint
Di Sante et al CALIPERS - MS Dec 18, 2024
5
Figure 2: Deploying CALIPERS in hiPSCs. a) FUCCIplex expected readouts of non-canonical CC
events in cardiomyocytes. b) hiPSC colony expressing LifeAct (grey) and FUCCIplex (cyan/magenta)
from the EF1 promoter. c) Frame from an EF1 -FUCCIplex hiPSC-CM showing sarcomere s and
microtubules (insets) thanks to a microtubule dye (green) imaged in the far -red channel after
FUCCIplex turned OFF in hiPSC-CMs. d) Cardiac organoid formation from EF1a-FUCCIplex hiPSCs.
e) Single-cell RNAseq of EF1 -FUCCIplex hiPSCs, tri -lineage differentiated endoderm (ENDO),
mesoderm (MESO), ectoderm (ECTO), and cardioid -differentiated endothelial cells (EC), epicardial
cells (EPI) proliferating fibroblasts (P-FIB), fibroblasts (FIB), cardiac progenitors (CP), early (E-CM),
proliferating (P-CM), intermediate (I-CM), late (L-CM), and conductive cardiomyocytes ( CM2),. f)
Structural (actin: grey, tubulin: green) and functional (calcium: chronomaps) analysis of nocodazole
effect on EF1 -FUCCIplex hiPSC-CMs. g-i) CC-aware phenotyping of hROSA26-CAG-FUCCIplex
hiPSC-CMs that constitutively express FUCCIplex showing hiPSC-CMs re-entering the CC (miRFP-
expressing nuclei) during proliferation (g), multinucleation (h), or endoreplication (i). Dashed squares
and arrowheads indicate a cell before and after division in all conditions; the asterisk indicates an
additional proliferation event in the endoreplication panels. Scale bars: 100 µm (b, d), 25 µm
(elsewhere).
.CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseperpetuity. It is made available under a
preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in
The copyright holder for thisthis version posted December 22, 2024. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.19.629259doi: bioRxiv preprint
Di Sante et al CALIPERS - MS Dec 18, 2024
6
References
1. Gulati, G. S., D’Silva, J. P., Liu, Y., Wang, L. & Newman, A. M. Profiling cell identity and tissue architecture with
single-cell and spatial transcriptomics. Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 1–21 (2024).
2. Wiggins, L. et al. The CellPhe toolkit for cell phenotyping using time -lapse imaging and pattern recognition. Nat.
Commun. 14, 1854 (2023).
3. Cimini, B. A. et al. Optimizing the Cell Painting assay for image-based profiling. Nat. Protoc. 18, 1981–2013 (2023).
4. Marchiano, S. et al. Gene editing to prevent ventricular arrhythmias associated with cardiomyocyte cell therapy. Cell
Stem Cell 30, 396-414.e9 (2023).
5. Roberts, B. et al. Systematic gene tagging using CRISPR/Cas9 in human stem cells to illuminate cell organization. Mol.
Biol. Cell 28, 2854–2874 (2017).
6. Hofbauer, P. et al. Cardioids reveal self-organizing principles of human cardiogenesis. Cell 184, 3299-3317.e22 (2021).
7. Lewis-Israeli, Y. R. et al. Self-assembling human heart organoids for the modeling of cardiac development and congenital
heart disease. Nat. Commun. 12, 5142 (2021).
8. Park, S. -J. et al. Insights Into the Pathogenesis of Catecholaminergic Polymorphic Ventricular Tachycardia From
Engineered Human Heart Tissue. Circulation 140, 390–404 (2019).
9. Landau, S. et al. Primitive macrophages enable long-term vascularization of human heart-on-a-chip platforms. Cell Stem
Cell 31, 1222-1238.e10 (2024).
10. Sakaue-Sawano, A. et al. Genetically encoded tools for optical dissection of the mammalian cell cycle. Mol. Cell 68, 626-
640.e5 (2017).
11. Amezquita, R. A. et al. Orchestrating single-cell analysis with Bioconductor. Nat. Methods 17, 137–145 (2020).
12. Seal, S. et al. From pixels to phenotypes: Integrating image -based profiling with cell health data as BioMorph features
improves interpretability. Mol. Biol. Cell 35, mr2 (2024).
13. Sheehy, S. P. et al. Quality metrics for stem cell-derived cardiac myocytes. Stem Cell Reports 2, 282–294 (2014).
14. Pasqualini, F. S., Sheehy, S. P., Agarwal, A., Aratyn -Schaus, Y. & Parker, K. K. Structural phenotyping of stem cell -
derived cardiomyocytes. Stem Cell Reports 4, 340–347 (2015).
15. Wang, M., Da, Y. & Tian, Y. Fluorescent proteins and genetically encoded biosensors. Chem. Soc. Rev. 52, 1189–1214
(2023).
16. Koh, S.-B. et al. A quantitative FastFUCCI assay defines cell cycle dynamics at a single-cell level. J. Cell Sci. 130, 512–
520 (2017).
17. Riedl, J. et al. Lifeact: a versatile marker to visualize F-actin. Nat. Methods 5, 605–607 (2008).
18. Ohta, Y. et al. Cell-matrix interface regulates dormancy in human colon cancer stem cells. Nature 608, 784–794 (2022).
19. Matković, J. et al. Kinetochore- and chromosome -driven transition of microtubules into bundles promotes spindle
assembly. Nat. Commun. 13, 7307 (2022).
20. Salmenov, R., Mummery, C. & Ter Huurne, M. Cell cycle visualization tools to study cardiomyocyte proliferation in
real-time. Open Biol. 14, 240167 (2024).
21. Caporizzo, M. A. & Prosser, B. L. The microtubule cytoskeleton in cardiac mechanics and heart failure. Nat. Rev. Cardiol.
19, 364–378 (2022).
22. Kitani, T. et al. Human-induced pluripotent stem cell model of trastuzumab-induced cardiac dysfunction in patients with
breast cancer. Circulation 139, 2451–2465 (2019).
23. Burridge, P. W. et al. Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes recapitulate the predilection of breast
cancer patients to doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity. Nat. Med. 22, 547–556 (2016).
24. Joshi, A. M. et al. Microtubule inhibitors and cardiotoxicity. Curr. Oncol. Rep. 23, 30 (2021).
25. Parks, C., Alam, M. A., Sullivan, R. & Mancarella, S. STIM1 -dependent Ca(2+) microdomains are required for
myofilament remodeling and signaling in the heart. Sci. Rep. 6, 25372 (2016).
26. Eulalio, A. et al. Functional screening identifies miRNAs inducing cardiac regeneration. Nature 492, 376–381 (2012).
27. Bassat, E. et al. The extracellular matrix protein agrin promotes heart regeneration in mice. Nature 547, 179–184 (2017).
28. Aratyn-Schaus, Y. et al. Coupling primary and stem cell -derived cardiomyocytes in an in vitro model of cardiac cell
therapy. J. Cell Biol. 212, 389–397 (2016).
29. Bertero, A. et al. Optimized inducible shRNA and CRISPR/Cas9 platforms for in vitro studies of human development
using hPSCs. Development 143, 4405–4418 (2016).
30. Alvarez, R., Jr et al. Cardiomyocyte cell cycle dynamics and proliferation revealed through cardiac-specific transgenesis
of fluorescent ubiquitinated cell cycle indicator (FUCCI). J. Mol. Cell. Cardiol. 127, 154–164 (2019).
.CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseperpetuity. It is made available under a
preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in
The copyright holder for thisthis version posted December 22, 2024. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.19.629259doi: bioRxiv preprint
Di Sante et al CALIPERS - MS Dec 18, 2024
1
Extended Figures
Extended Figure 1: Deploying FUCCIplex in HaCaT cells. a) Live imaging of eight different clusters
of HaCaT cells expressing FUCCIplex (cyan/magenta) and RFP-LifeAct (grey) b) Time laps- live cell
imaging acquisition of HaCaT cells expressing FUCCIplex and RFP-LifeAct, followed for 18 hours. c)
Cell cycle analysis by flow cytometry based on FUCCIplex fluorescence. d) Cell cycle profiles obtained
by flow cytometry (propidium iodide staining). Data in this panel is also shown in abbreviated form in
the manuscript’s Figure 1. Details on the gating strategy are in Supplemental Figure 1. Scale bars: 50
um (a) and 100 um (b).
.CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseperpetuity. It is made available under a
preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in
The copyright holder for thisthis version posted December 22, 2024. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.19.629259doi: bioRxiv preprint
Di Sante et al CALIPERS - MS Dec 18, 2024
2
Extended Figure 2: The FUCCIphase algorithm and phase -locking motility analysis. a) Tracked
nuclei with a cell cycle percentage estimate at each time point determined by the FUCCIphase
algorithm. A frame from this analysis is also shown in the manuscript’s Figure 1. b) The reference curve
for HaCaT cells is distilled from 11 tracks covering the entire cell cycle. c) An example of sub-sequence
matching was used to query cell cycle percentage from the reference curve (panel b) based on the current
intensity profiles. The matched subsequence is also shown versus the ground truth subsequence. d)
Comparison of the reconstructed versus the expected percentage (ground truth) over a full cell cycle
and indicating a postprocessing step to obtain percentages with nonnegative time derivatives. e) Mean
percentage error per sequence depending on subsequence length: thirty subseq uences were sampled,
and results are shown as means and standard deviation. The reference error is the error of the
subsequence when the entire cycle was used (as in d). f) Centroid velocity as a function of the elapsed
time in frames. g) Centroid velocity as a function of the estimated cell cycle percentage. h) Nucleus as
a function of the elapsed time in frames. i) Nucleus area as a function of the estimated cell cycle
percentage. j) Lineage tree colored according to estimated cell cycle percentage. Scale bar: 25 um (a).
.CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseperpetuity. It is made available under a
preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in
The copyright holder for thisthis version posted December 22, 2024. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.19.629259doi: bioRxiv preprint
Di Sante et al CALIPERS - MS Dec 18, 2024
3
Extended Data Figure 3: FU
Extended Figure 3: Development and validation of FUCCIsmart. a) Flowchart illustrating our
FUCCIplex-based smart microscopy (FUCCIsmart) routine as implemented in NIS Elements JOBs
Module. b) Table summarizing FUCCIsmart classification method within the color -coded cell cycle
phase sequence. c) Representative live imaging example of FUCCIsmart classifications within HaCaT
cells with GFP-tagged β-tubulin, RFP-tagged actin, and FUCCI nuclei sensor. Scale bar: 25 µm.
.CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseperpetuity. It is made available under a
preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in
The copyright holder for thisthis version posted December 22, 2024. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.19.629259doi: bioRxiv preprint
Di Sante et al CALIPERS - MS Dec 18, 2024
4
Extended Figure 4: FUCCIsmart performance evaluation tables. a) Data acquisition sequences in
FUCCIsmart routines compared to confocal Automation every 6 hours and 1 hour. Rows represent
individual cell recordings over 24 hours; columns correspond to the acquisition time points. Cell cycle
phases are color -coded accord ing to FUCCIplex labeling. FUCCIsmart performance was evaluated
across three independent experiments. The bar graph displays True Positive, False Positive, True
Negative, and False Negative percentages for both routines.
.CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseperpetuity. It is made available under a
preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in
The copyright holder for thisthis version posted December 22, 2024. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.19.629259doi: bioRxiv preprint
Di Sante et al CALIPERS - MS Dec 18, 2024
5
Extended Figure 5: hiPS -derived cardiomyocytes on engineered substrate. a) Schematic
illustration of the microcontact printing process to ink PDMS stamps featuring cell -guiding cues and
transfer the resulting fibronectin islands onto glass substrates. b) A confocal fluorescent image of
hiPSC-CMs six days after seeding shows the calcium (yellow) and F -actin (grey) signals. c)
Representative dynamic of calcium transient signal obtained at 25 fps recording. d) Schematic
illustration of the micro molding proces s to obtain gelatin hydrogels with molded line arrays for CM
tissue alignment and brightfield image of hiPSC -CMs seeded on the molded gelatin gels. e) Confocal
fluorescent image of F-actin signal. f) Actin alignment analysis using OrientationJ ImageJ plugin, with
colormap and radar plot showing cell alignment along the molded lines. g) Synchronous calcium
transients in aligned hiPSC -CMs obtained at 500 fps. h) A representative chronomap displaying the
activation time for the calcium transient obtained in g. i) Estimation of the average propagation speed
of the calcium signal in the transversal direction with respect to the tissue alignment. Scale bars: 10 μm
(b), 50 μm (d), 20 μm (e, f) and 200 μm (h).
.CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseperpetuity. It is made available under a
preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in
The copyright holder for thisthis version posted December 22, 2024. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.19.629259doi: bioRxiv preprint
Di Sante et al CALIPERS - MS Dec 18, 2024
6
Extended Figure 6: Lentiviral transduction of different FUCCIplex constructs in hiPSC-CMs. a)
Expression of FUCCIplex in hiPSCs engineered to express the calcium and actin sensor (Extended
Figure 5) under the control of constitutive (EF1 and CMV) and cardiac-specific (hTNNT2 and cTnT)
promoters b) Expression of FUCCIplex in hiPSC -CMs engineered to express the calcium and actin
sensor (Extended Figure 5) under the control of constitutive (EF1a and CMV) and cardiac -specific
(hTNNT2 and cTnT) promoters. c) Re-expression of the same viral vectors in cardiomyocytes
differentiated from EF1 -FUCCIplex hiPSCs. hiPSC-CMs don’t express FUCCIplex from the EF1
promoter but can express it from the CMV promoter or from cardiac-specific ones. Scale bars: 50 µm
and 25 µm (b).
.CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseperpetuity. It is made available under a
preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in
The copyright holder for thisthis version posted December 22, 2024. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.19.629259doi: bioRxiv preprint
Di Sante et al CALIPERS - MS Dec 18, 2024
7
Extended Figure 7: FUCCIplex expression in hiPSCs, germ layers, embryoid bodies, and cardiac
organoids. a) A 20 -hr, time -lapse live cell imaging acquisition of hiPSCs expressing FUCCIplex
(cyan/magenta) and RFP-LifeAct (grey) with quantification of how many cells are in each phase of the
cell cycle ( inset). b) Live imaging of the three germ layers derived from the hiPSC clones and cell
cycle distribution. c) Expression of FUCCIplex and RFP-LifeAct in embryoid bodies generated from
hiPSCs (day 14). d-e) Generation of cardiac organoids derived from hiPSCs with the passage from 2D
to 3D at day 2.5. Expression of FUCCIplex, GCaMP6f, and RFP-LifeAct (grey) at days 4.5, 5.5, and
6.5. Representative calcium transients are reported only for beating organoids (days 5.5 and 6.5). e)
Live imaging acquisition of ectoderm cells treated with Nocodazole (100 mM) and imaged every 30
minutes for 18h. An extract of data from this figure is also shown in the manuscript’s figure 2. Scale
bars: 50 µm (a), 25 µm (b), 100 µm (c-e), 150 µm (d), and 25 µm (f).
.CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseperpetuity. It is made available under a
preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in
The copyright holder for thisthis version posted December 22, 2024. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.19.629259doi: bioRxiv preprint
Di Sante et al CALIPERS - MS Dec 18, 2024
8
Extended Figure 8: Single -cell RNAseq analysis of human cardioids. a) Dimensionality reduction
and clustering showing the main cell states and associated cell types as fingerprinted across hiPSC,
germ layers, and cardioids after 4.5 and 7.5 days of differentiation. b) An alternative UMAP
representation with a breakdown of the cell states and associated cell types in the three experimental
groups. The identified cell types are hiPSCs, mesoderm, ectoderm, endoderm, and neuroectoderm;
cardioid-derived cells, including cardiac progenitors, epicardial and endothelial cells, proliferating
fibroblasts and cardiac fibroblasts; as well as progressively more mature hiPSC -CMs, includi ng
proliferating, early, immature, late, and conductive mature cardiomyocytes. c) Individual plots showing
the relative expression of lineage-defining genes in the cell types represented in a-b.
.CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseperpetuity. It is made available under a
preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in
The copyright holder for thisthis version posted December 22, 2024. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.19.629259doi: bioRxiv preprint
Di Sante et al CALIPERS - MS Dec 18, 2024
9
Extended Figure 9: Genomic insertion of FUCCIplex in the ROSA26 locus and PCR screening
for the detection of gene-targeted hPSC clonal lines a) Schematic diagram of the genomic insertion
of the FUCCIplex construct in the ROSA26 locus. The ROSA26 targeting vector bears the FUCCIplex
transgene flanked by the right left and right ROSA26 homology arms (HA). Upon homology
recombination, the genome -edited cells gain a Blasticidin resistance (BSD) and the FUCCIplex
transgene under the control of a CAG promoter. b) PCR shows the wild-type locus, the correct 5’ and
3’ integration (INT) of the FUCCIplex construct, the 5’ and 3’ off -target backbone integration (BB),
and blank (B). Clone 8 (hiPSC edited only with FUCCIplex, dual color) and clone 27 (FUCCIplex
positive, GCaMP6f and LifeAct-RFP, four colors) are heterozygous and no BB insertion was detected.
c-d) Expression of ROSA26_CAG_FUCCIplex in clone 8 (only FUCCIplex) and clone 27 (four colors)
hiPSC and hiPSC-CMs. BF: bright-field. Calcium traces of three different cardiomyocytes derived from
clone 27. Scale bars: 50 µm (c) and 25 µm (d).
.CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseperpetuity. It is made available under a
preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in
The copyright holder for thisthis version posted December 22, 2024. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.19.629259doi: bioRxiv preprint
Di Sante et al CALIPERS - MS Dec 18, 2024
10
Extended Figure 10: Increasing content and throughput with FUCCIplex hiPSC -CMs. a) Four-
color FUCCIplex hiPSC-CMs were imaged after loading with a SPY650-tubulin probe. Since M-phase
miRFP670 intensity is dim in dividing hiPSC-CMs, we can clearly distinguish mitotic spindle dynamics
in the nuclei (arrowhead). Calcium transients were rec orded before (PRE) and after (POST) cell
division. b) Four-color FUCCIplex hiPSC -CMs plated in a 96 -well plate with a biomimetic surface
(nanoSurface topography). After cardiomyocyte alignment, calcium transients and sarcomere length
were quantified before (PRE) and after (POST) cell division. The dashed square and arrowheads
indicate a cell before and after division. Scale bars: 25 µm (a, b).
.CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseperpetuity. It is made available under a
preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in
The copyright holder for thisthis version posted December 22, 2024. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.19.629259doi: bioRxiv preprint
Text is read by the "Ask this paper" AI Q&A widget below.
Extraction quality varies by source — PMC NXML preserves structure
cleanly, OA-HTML may include some navigation residue, and OA-PDF can
have broken hyphenation. The publisher copy
(via DOI)
is the canonical version.