After studying physics and computer science at the University of Karlsruhe and University Heidelberg, Philipp Keller pursued his PhD in biology at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). As an undergraduate student, he developed light-sheet microscopy techniques for high-resolution imaging of the cellular cytoskeleton and created a computational model of yeast spore formation. As a graduate student, he developed scanned light-sheet microscopy and a computational framework for automated cell tracking to systematically reconstruct and analyze the cell movements and divisions underlying early zebrafish development. He furthermore developed computer simulations to investigate the evolutionary mechanisms that shaped the yeast genome architecture. After receiving his PhD, Keller became a group leader at HHMI’s Janelia Research Campus in 2010. At Janelia, he is leading an interdisciplinary lab, in which optical physicists, computer scientists and biologists collaborate to advance light microscopy and study the development and function of the early nervous system using light-sheet microscopy and computer vision techniques.