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

Anthony Lewis

Writer

Ant was the web editor in the early days of BPoD, and has since worked with the UK’s top science organisations as a writer and multimedia producer. He now splits his time between freelance work and managing multimedia at The Lancet.

Website

• Manuel Théry
• Institute of life sciences research and technologies (iRTSV), CEA, France
• World Cell Race 2012