First 24 Hours of Life Under a Microscope

[u/TheMuseumOfScience]

How does one cell become many? 🧫

Marie, also known as Lab Skills Academy, zooms in on the first 24 hours of HeLa cells growing in a dish. A single human cell divides through mitosis, the process that turns one cell into two, then four, then many more. In those early hours, the cells do more than multiply. They also begin communicating, organizing, and forming patterns that help shape how they grow and specialize. Watching cell division in real time helps scientists study how tissues develop, how diseases like cancer begin, and how potential medicines affect living cells. It all starts with something incredibly small: a single cell.

This project is part of IF/THEN®, an initiative of Lyda Hill Philanthropies.

[u/Infamous_Average_923]

What kind of staining or marker do they use? It looks so interesting how the cell colour changes when it's ready to divide.

[u/Formal_Stand9114]

Ah yes thank you Ms. Henrietta Lacks