• Question: How many types of cells do you know?

    Asked by Marcel to Eoin, Ester, Ildiko, Natasha, Paul, Tom on 7 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Ester Gil Vazquez

      Ester Gil Vazquez answered on 7 Nov 2017:

      There are around 200 cell types! some of them are more “famous” than others. For example, everybody knows about neurons, but not many people have heard about Tuft cells. And to be completely honest, not even scientists know all of them by heart. We tend to focus on the cells of the tissues we work with (in my case, the gut). Although my favorite are immune cells!

    • Photo: Natasha Myhill

      Natasha Myhill answered on 7 Nov 2017:

      I think I know quite a lot, and have worked with a few different types of cells as well – during my work now I work with T-cells and cancer cells that we have got from patients which is really cool as most cells scientists use are cell lines. This means they are generated by a big company and sold off for research use but are all the same – in my lab, no two lines are the same, they are as individual as people are!

    • Photo: Paul McKeegan

      Paul McKeegan answered on 10 Nov 2017:

      I use egg cells taken from discarded animal tissue, so these are all individuals too! I can think of about 40 cell types off the top of my head, but I have never heard of a Tuft cell!
      I have worked on egg cells, embryos, sperm, granulosa, cumulus, mesenchymal stem cells, epithelial cells and fibroblasts.

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