• Question: what is youre favorite cell?

    Asked by 579cesf28 to Matt, Bex, Kylie, RobB on 13 Jun 2016. This question was also asked by swsaucetothemax, NarutoBoy.
    • Photo: Matt Dunn

      Matt Dunn answered on 13 Jun 2016:

      Hi guys,

      I have grown all types of cells, including skin, muscle, bone, cartilage and even fat cells, but my favourite is always brain cells (it’s why I’m a brain scientist!).

      They grow in such incredible patterns (you can see some of them on my profile), and they are the most beautiful cells, as well as the most complex!

    • Photo: Rebecca Thompson

      Rebecca Thompson answered on 13 Jun 2016:

      I’ve worked on macrophages, neruronal and epithelial cells, as well as lots of different bacteria. They all have their charms..

      I’ve got to agree with Matt, brain cells (in particular, neuronal cells) are fantastic and pretty to take pictures of.

      But my all time favourite are macrophage cells, I’ve taken live images of them eating (a process known as ‘phagocytosis”) and digesting things like bacteria cells, which was amazing!

    • Photo: Kylie Belchamber

      Kylie Belchamber answered on 22 Jun 2016:

      My favourite cell in the macrophage. It is a white blood cell that lives in your tissues/organs, and eats dead cells, or bacteria, or pollen, or anything else that shouldn’t be there.
      I am studying macrophages in lung diseases like asthma and emphysema, where they can’t eat as much as in a healthy person. I take them out of the blood/lungs, and feed them bacteria and watch what happens, so we can work out what is going wrong.

      They are my favourite because you can watch them moving around under the microscope, looking for things to eat – pretty cool!

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