Cell Quest

These weird, twisted shapes represent structures electron microscopes have discovered inside animal and plant cells. In these tiny organelles take place all the mysteries of life itself. Explore these cells, find out everything you can about the life within them and then see if your discoveries can be used to understand, and perhaps someday even, cure medical problems from AIDS to cancer. Of course, you cannot cure cancer immediately. You must get your training. Select your appropriate level.

Level 1 - Medical Student

Click on your choice of cells. When you get to the cell diagram, click on the box containing the name of each organelle to find out more about it. Keep a journal of what you learn. Use the picture icons to return to the diagram. Or you can hit the "BACK" button or the "GO" menu to go back to a previous page.

Click here to begin your study of animal cells

Click here to begin your study of plant cells

Level 2 - Biological Researcher

Now that you understand the basics of life in the cell, use the Internet to dig more deeply into the mysteries of life.Prepare a written/oral report to be presented to the A.A.A.S. (American Association for the Advancement of Science) on one of these topics.

• 1. Where do scientists think the first living cells came from? On what evidence do they base this understanding? How were primordial seas different from todays oceans and our atmosphere? How did eukaryotic cells with membrane bound organelles develop? What information comes from studies of the sea floor today by research vessels such as the JOIDES Resolution? Try this WebQuest where you get to plan a future voyage of the JOIDES Resolution.
  
  
• 2. How do animal cells get the energy they need to live? What organelles are involved and what kind of chemistry makes it happen? Why are plants so essential to energy processes? Can the efficiency of photosynthesis be increased so that food production can be increased?
  
  
• 3. Can cells communicate with one another? How do chemicals or invading germs get into cells and cause reactions? How do substances move back and forth through cell membranes? How do cells secrete substances? How do cells stick together to make an organism?
  
  
• 4. What controls cells? How do they know what they are supposed to do? What happens if there is a mistake in the instructions?
  

Level 3 - Ph.D. in Medical Research

Congratulations! You now understand enough about the nature of life and cells to be on the selection committe to decide who will receive the next Nobel Prizes. Medical researchers are attempting to explain some of the most devastating diseases by understanding what goes wrong at the cellular level. Select one of these diseases and use the Internet to discover what research is being done. Prepare a report with your findings for presentation to the Nobel Committee considering selections for the Nobel Prize in medicine. Include the discoveries that you think will be most likely to result in cures and, if possible, the names of the researchers most responsible for this knowledge.

• 1. Cancer is an uncontrolled cell division. Often cancerous cells are recognized by the body's immune system and destroyed. When the immune systems fails to do this adequately, cancer develops. What hypotheses are there for the origin of cancer cells? How does the immune system recognize them? How are these diseases treated? Can the immune system be taught to recognize and destroy the diseased cells?
  
  

• 2. AIDS is caused by a virus. To infect a cell the virus must be able to enter and reproduce. AIDS only infects certain cell in certain kinds of organisms. If science could create mice that could be infected with the AIDS virus, it would be much easier to study the course of this disease. How do viruses infect some cells but not others? How do viruses reproduce? Can the reproductive cycle of a virus be used to help treat AIDS? What would it take to create a mouse capable of being infected by the AIDS virus?
  
  
• 3. There are several diseases that may be what are called autoimmune diseases. These are diseases where the body's immune system fails to recognize cells that belong in the body and attack them. Arthritis, Lupus and Hashimoto's Disease may be in this category. Choose one of these dieases to study for potential Nobel Prize winning research. What is the disease? What are its effects on the body and the cells? What organelles may be involved in its progress? What treatments are used and how do they affect the body or cells?