• Question: What is the smallest cell you have researched?

    Asked by edmond to Alison, Becky, Connie, Gemma, John Robert, Sara on 22 Jan 2014.
    • Photo: Gemma Swiers

      Gemma Swiers answered on 22 Jan 2014:

      I work on blood cells which are quite tiny about 10 microns wide. One thousand microns make 1 millimeter (that’s the littlest marking on your ruler) so you could fit 100 blood cells into 1 millimeter! pretty tiny eh?

    • Photo: Becky Cook

      Becky Cook answered on 22 Jan 2014:

      The smallest cell I have researched has been around 30 microns (from a colon cancer) so bigger than a blood cell. However, single cell organisms called mycoplasm are contaminants that can grow in my cancer cell cultures and these are really really small only 0.1 microns which makes them very difficult to detect!

Comments

  • Photo: Leila

    Leila commented on :

    In our lab, we work mostly on human embryonic stem cells, which might be among the smallest human cells! They measure between 2 and 4 microns across, so you need a pretty good microscope to see them with!