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27 July 2012

100 Micrometre Sprint

The fastest, strongest and fittest humans on earth are descending on the London 2012 Olympic Games today. But athletes aren’t the only ones with a competitive streak. The microbiologists of the world have their own need for speed, and have taken to racing their collections of cells. In the 2011 World Cell Race, bone marrow cells from Singapore blew away the competition, migrating along the microscopic protein-covered track at the dizzying pace of 5.2 microns per minute (that’s 0.000000193mph). The races are far from frivolous. Cell movement and migration is key to everything from the development of a growing body to the spread of rogue cancer cells. Different cell types employ different tactics for moving around the body, and these races provide a great way to compare the variations and build our understanding of how cells travel.

Written by Anthony Lewis

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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