What Do Cell Biologists Do?
Cell biologists study everything about cells. Jonas Cicenas, graduate student at East Carolina University's school of medicine says, "Cell biologists investigate molecular mechanisms, which are involved in different aspects of cell life: its division---proliferation, its specification for certain tissues---differentiation, its death---apoptosis or necrosis. Most of cell biologists also investigate what are the molecular mechanisms of cells becoming cancerous."
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History
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Cell biology is based on two major tenets. The first was made in the 1830s when biologists discovered that all organisms are made up of cells. From there, cell biology became a field of biological study. The second tenet came in the late 1800s when cell biologists learned that new cells can be created only by cell division, a process called mitosis.
Research
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Since cells are extremely tiny, cell biologists spend must of their time looking through microscopes. With microscopes, cell biologists found the amount of cells in any species can vary widely---from unicellular beings like bacteria and protozoa, to multi-cellular beings like plants and humans. Not only did they discover that the number of cells in each species differs, but the types of cells also differ. For instance, according to the Free Dictionary, adult humans are made up of about 200 cell types and more than 10^14 cells total.
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Twentieth Century
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Though through the 19th century, cell biologists mainly used microscopes to study cells. In the 20th century, more tactics were discovered. Cell biologists can now break open large masses of cells to separate cell parts into "pure fractions." By isolating parts into pure fractions, researchers can study single organelles of cells and learn more about their function. Since each organelle is different, studying organelles alone can help cell biologists learn more about how each part of the cell works and identify specific parts of the cell that can go wrong, making fixing certain parts of a cell a more achievable process.
Contemporary Cell Biologists
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A lot of contemporary cell biologists study cell reproduction to discover more about cancer. When control of cell reproduction is disrupted, and masses of useless cells are created, the problem is generally cancer. According to the Free Dictionary, "All diseases ultimately result from the death or malfunctioning of one or another group of cells in a plant or animal." Cell biologists have already found out a great deal about acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) by studying the behavior of cells and are discovering more about cancer and how to fight it.
There also seven main contemporary tenets of cell biology: 1. All cells store information in DNA, 2. Genetic code is the same in cells of all species, 3. All cells decode DNA genes by RNA, 4. All cells make proteins using ribosomes, 5. Proteins control structure and function in all cells, 6. All cells use ATP for energy, and 7. All cells have a plasma membrane.
Future of Cell Biology
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As all aspects of science are always evolving, so is cell biology. Different ways to study cells are always being discovered. Cell biologists can now culture and grow new animal and plant cells, which has opened up many new possibilities. For instance, since they can grow whatever specific plant or animal cells they want, cell biologists don't have to worry about experimenting on live plants and animals. This has also been a breakthrough in studying cancer cells and aging. Cell biologists will continue finding new ways to study cells so that they can find new ways to help both plants and animals.
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References
- Photo Credit cells 6 image by chrisharvey from Fotolia.com
