Question: what got you interested in cells?

Carolyn Nielsen answered on 17 Nov 2015:

That’s a good question… I think in part it’s because they are a very tangible part of biology- you can look at them relatively easily down a microscope, they can perform an amazing range of functions, and it’s easy to think about them as building blocks making up the body or other living organisms. Proteins or other molecules that make up cells are obviously very important, but I find them harder to get excited about. At the other end of the spectrum, I found ecology at university a little too wishy-washy (don’t tell any ecologists that though!) in that it seemed harder to study things as closely. That makes sense if you think about it, because ecosystems are hugely complex environments so it’s hard to understand the role of each individual component because everything is so inter-related. Interestingly though, I guess you could say the same thing about cells as all their parts are obviously all interwoven!

But I feel most passionately about the immune system, so I think if I had to choose between researching cells in another area of biology, or working on the immune system but studying maybe studying only a specific protein receptor on an immune cell surface, I’d pick the molecule!

Do you have a favourite part of biology?