As a molecular biologist in the day; I work with a world that is quite complex and dynamic. It usually consists of one single Hero: The Cell. It is hard for me to imagine a day without thinking about the cell and its inner workings. The complex interactions that occur in a controlled manner to promote cellular and organismal growth keeps me curious and wanting to pursue research.
Since the time Antonie Philips van Leeuwenhoek invented the microscope humans have pursued the search in the microscopic realms. It was unicellular microbes at first but over 300 years of innovation we are able to see more and understand better and answer the enigmatic questions. Human's thirst for knowing more has enabled better resolution of cells and their inner workings. This resolution has, in turn, let us discover subcellular structures, localize proteins and visualize intra and extracellular signalling.
This quote by the founder of micorscopy summarises
My work, which I've done for a long time, was not pursued in order to gain the praise I now enjoy, but chiefly from a craving after knowledge, which I notice resides in me more than in most other men. And therewithal, whenever I found out anything remarkable, I have thought it my duty to put down my discovery on paper, so that all ingenious people might be informed thereof. - — Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, in a letter dated 12 June 1716 Source: Wikipedia.
I have worked in few labs over the years as a Research student and have come to admire the diversity of cell types and how the transformed cells function. Whenever I use the microscope, I feel baffled and very satisfied with what i see. It is very transformative indeed for me.
In this short blog post, I will show you all Dear Steemians some Images of various cells undergoing division or in the process of doing the same. Few images have signal activation on the cytoplasm when we induced localization of kRAS. All the cells exhibit beautiful morphological characteristics and the neural cells OR HeLa cells which are derived from cervical cancers.
HeLa cells were stained for nuclei(blue) and another protein (green)to visualize the localization
MeWo cells firing mitotic signalling cascades and undergoing division.
U251 cells* under activated kRAS signalling
Few U251 cells are close to each other promoting intracellular signalling
The cell with its nucleus stained with DAPI a dye that is nucleus specific.
It is a wonderful world seeing down through the microscope. I am happy to perform some experiments on a daily basis, Usually my time with microscopy is more exciting as it includes another favourite hobby; Photography.
I wanted to share snippets of the images. Just to try out blogging in STEM
