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Cell Biology

Cell biology is the branch of biology that has as its focus everything that is related to cells: their properties, their functions, their characteristics, their divisions, their mutations, their environments, and their deaths. The information provided by the study of cells is pertinent to all of the biological sciences, since cells are the primary structural units of life for everything starting from single cell bacteria all the way to multicellular humans. However, fields such as genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry and developmental biology are the ones that are most closely linked to cell biology.

A human is estimated to have around 100,000 billion cells in his body, and these are broken down into 220 distinct types of cells. Regardless of such cell variations, there are certain properties that all cells share. For example, they all multiply through the process of division, with each cell halving itself, proceeded by those two halves halving themselves, continuing on so as to grow exponentially. All cells respond to stimuli, whether internal or external. Also all cells synthesize proteins and function by deriving energy from metabolic pathways.

All cellular life is divided into three domains: Eukaryota, Eubacteria, and Archaea.

Web Resources On Cell Biology

Cellular Biology
Wikipedia: Cell Biology

Book Resources On Cell Biology

Essential Cell Biology by Bruce Alberts, et al
Histology and Cell Biology by Abraham L. Kierszenbaum

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