Cellular calcium imaging: so, what's new?

The ability to uncover the fine details of intracellular Ca(2+) signals has improved remarkably in recent years, largely as a result of developments in methods for reporting Ca(2+), coupled with great improvements in measurement instrumentation. The cell biologist wishing to image intracellular Ca(2+) has a range of options to consider. These include the use of photoproteins, commercially available fluorescent indicators or the new generation of fluorescent protein Ca(2+) probes. Molecular biology and biophysics are now joining forces to bring major advances in the art of deciphering the complexity of spatiotemporal Ca(2+) signals.