Which microscope and platform do UK labs need for the Cell Painting assay?
The Thermo Scientific CellInsight CX7 is the high-content screening platform UK labs use for Cell Painting. It captures all six Cell Painting dyes in a single automated run, then extracts thousands of morphological features for drug-discovery and toxicity profiling.
CellInsight CX7 LZR Pro — 7-colour laser fluorescence, brightfield and confocal options for Cell Painting. Image: Thermo Fisher Scientific.
Cell Painting is a high-content imaging assay developed at the Broad Institute that uses six fluorescent dyes to paint different cellular compartments. By capturing multi-channel images and extracting thousands of morphological features, researchers create a "fingerprint" of cellular states that can reveal how cells respond to genetic or chemical perturbations.
For a step-by-step UK protocol, see our companion article Cell Painting Explained: A Complete UK Guide for 2026 and the CellInsight CX7 review.
The canonical 6-dye Cell Painting panel, as published by the Broad Institute and used on the CellInsight CX7:
The Thermo Cell Painting Kit bundles the six dyes, buffers and protocols for 96- or 384-well workflows.
🛒 View Cell Painting Kits →By combining six stains into a single multiplexed assay, Cell Painting creates rich morphological profiles that can distinguish between different cellular states, drug mechanisms, and disease models. The resulting "cell fingerprint" is compared against reference libraries to predict mechanism of action, flag toxicity, or identify novel therapeutics. The assay is compatible with most modern high-content screening platforms and open-source analysis tools like CellProfiler.
For Cell Painting in a UK screening lab, a dedicated high-content screening platform is usually the best fit. The CellInsight CX7 combines widefield and confocal optics with laser excitation, a robotic plate handler, environmental control and Harmony/Signals analysis software. It captures all six Cell Painting dyes in one pass, with consistent field-of-view illumination across 96- and 384-well plates.
Ideal for cell culture work. Objectives sit below the stage, leaving the top of dishes and plates unobstructed. Essential for live cell imaging and automated screening on multiwell plates.
Systems like the Thermo EVOS M7000, CellInsight CX7, or ImageXpress offer integrated environmental control, autofocus, and robotic plate handling for high-throughput Cell Painting at scale.
For labs that need to inspect Cell Painting assays at the bench without a full HCS workflow, the Thermo EVOS M7000 gives an instant four-colour overlay on a large touch screen. It is a practical inverted fluorescence microscope for protocol development, troubleshooting, and teaching before moving plates to the CellInsight CX7.
EVOS M7000 — quick 4-colour overlay for Cell Painting protocol checks. Image: Thermo Fisher Scientific.
Purchase individual stains or complete Cell Painting kits from Thermo Fisher:
Peer-reviewed papers and protocols that define the Cell Painting assay and its application in high-content screening.
The original Cell Painting protocol: 6-dye multiplexing, imaging and analysis pipeline.
Read paper →Three million Cell Painting images and morphological profiles from matched chemical and genetic perturbations.
Read paper →Iterative staining-elution protocol that extends Cell Painting to more cellular compartments.
Read protocol →Validated alternative fluorescent dyes for image-based profiling assays.
Read paper →Pooled Cell Painting CRISPR screening with self-supervised deep learning.
Read paper →Machine-learning prediction of drug mechanism of action from high-content images.
Download PDF →