cytologist n : a biologist who studies the structure and function of cells

English

Noun

1. A scientist who studies the physical characteristics of chromosomes.
2. A biologist who studies cells.

Translations

• Portuguese: citologista

See also List of basic cell biology topics.

Cell biology (also called cellular biology or formerly cytology, from the Greek kytos, "container") is an academic discipline that studies cells – their physiological properties, their structure, the organelles they contain, interactions with their environment, their life cycle, division and death. This is done both on a microscopic and molecular level. Cell biology research extends to both the great diversity of single-celled organisms like bacteria and the many specialized cells in multicellular organisms like humans.

Knowing the composition of cells and how cells work is fundamental to all of the biological sciences. Appreciating the similarities and also differences between cell types is particularly important to the fields of cell and molecular biology. These fundamental similarities and differences provide a unifying theme, allowing the principles learned from studying one cell type to be extrapolated and generalized to other cell types. Research in cell biology is closely related to genetics, biochemistry, molecular biology and developmental biology.

• Organelle - term used for major subcellular structures
• Chloroplast - key organelle for photosynthesis
• Cilia - motile microtubule-containing structures of eukaryotes
• Cytoplasm - contents of the main fluid-filled space inside cells
• Cytoskeleton - protein filaments inside cells
• Ribosome - RNA and protein complex required for protein synthesis in cells
• Endoplasmic reticulum - major site of membrane protein synthesis
• Flagella - motile structures of bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes
• Golgi apparatus - site of protein glycosylation in the endomembrane system
• Membrane lipid and protein barrier
• Lipid bilayer - fundamental organizational structure of cell membranes
• Vesicle - small membrane-bounded spheres inside cells
• Mitochondrion - major energy-producing organelle
• Nucleus - holds most of the DNA of eukaryotic cells

Techniques used to study cells

• Cell culture and Radioactive tracers
• PCR and In situ hybridization
• DNA microarray screens of gene expression
• Computational genomics approaches are used to find patterns in genomic information

Purification of cells and their parts Purification may be performed using the following methods:

• Flow cytometry
• Cell fractionation
  • Release of cellular organelles by disruption of cells.
  • Separation of different organelles by centrifugation.
• Proteins extracted from cell membranes by detergents and salts or other kinds of chemicals.
• Immunoprecipitation.

See also

• List of basic cell biology topics
• Cell disruption
• Important publications in cell biology
• Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology
• The American Society for Cell Biology

Notable cell biologists

• Robert Hooke
• Anton van Leeuwenhoek
• Günter Blobel
• Marc Kirschner
• Peter Agre
• Keith R. Porter
• Ira Mellman
• Paul Nurse
• H. Robert Horvitz
• Christian de Duve
• Edmund Beecher Wilson
• Peter D. Mitchell
• Michael Swann
• George Emil Palade
• Geoffrey M. Cooper

References

• Cell and Molecular Biology by Karp 5th Ed.

External links

• American Society for Cell Biology
• British Society for Cell Biology
• Cells Alive
• BMC Cell Biology - online journal, open access
• Journal of Cell Biology - older issues free
• Journal of Cell Science - older issues free
• Cell Biology - School and University - graphics
• Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology (journal home)
• The Virtual Library of Biochemistry and Cell Biology
• Centre of the Cell online resource
• Springer Protocols for cell biology research

Wikiversity has learning resources related to this subject:

Online cell biology textbooks

• Molecular Biology of the Cell fourth edition, edited by Bruce Alberts (2002) published by Garland Science.
• Molecular Cell Biology fourth edition, edited by Harvey Lodish (2000) published by W. H. Freeman and Company.
• The Cell - A Molecular Approach second edition, by Geoffrey M. Cooper (2000) published by Sinauer Associates.