Biological assays for the characterization of cells using single-cell tracking and uses thereof

A method for calculating a minimal carcinogenic dose of a carcinogenic compound on a population of cells, comprising:

• culturing a population of live mammalian cells;
• treating the population of mammalian cells with a dose of a carcinogenic compound by treating a first portion of the population of mammalian cells with the carcinogenic compound at a first dose, and treating a second portion of the population of mammalian cells with the carcinogenic compound at a second dose;
• tracking individual cells within said population of cells for measuring by non-fluorescent microscopic observation, and imaging or tracking an occurrence of one or more distinctive cellular events in said population of cells, wherein said one or more distinctive cellular events is selected from the group consisting of:
• dipolar division, tripolar division, quadripolar division, hexapolar division, cell fusion, incomplete or partial division, cell shape alteration, nuclear shape alteration, inner cellular material accumulation, cell enlargement, engulfing, hyper-mobilization, hypo-mobilization, prolonged doubling time, shortened doubling time, and combinations thereof;
• calculating a first frequency of distinctive cellular events for the first portion of treated population of mammalian cells, and calculating a second frequency of distinctive cellular events for the second portion of the treated population of mammalian cells, and
• calculating a minimal carcinogenic dose of the carcinogenic compound based on a comparison between the first frequency and the second frequency, wherein the minimal carcinogenic dose does not reduce cell viability.