Cell biology

A cell is the smallest unit of life. Cell biology is a field of biological science in which we study the structural and functional properties of a cell.

History of cell biology:

• In 322-384 B.C. Aristotle and Paracelsus concluded that “all animals and plants, however, complicated, are constituted of a few-element which are repeated in each of them”. They referred to these macroscopic structures of an organism such as roots, flowers, and leaves or segments.
• In 1485 invention of magnifying lenses, the new world of the microscope was discovered by Da Vinci
• A swiss biologist Cornard Genser (1516-1565) published the result of his students, a study on the structure group of protists called foraminifera.

Further development of cell biology was associated with the development of optical lenses and microscopes (compound microscopes).

Growth of cell biology during

1. 16^th and 18^th centuries

• In 1590 by Francis Janssen and Zacharias Janssen, the first useful compound was invented with 10X and 30X. These microscopes were called “flea glasses”.
• In 1609 Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) invented the simple microscope.
• Marcello Malpighi (1628-1694) was the first to use a microscope to examine thin slices of animal tissues from different organs such as the brain, liver. He also had studied on plant tissue and described the structural unit as “utricles”.
• In 1665 Robert Hooke (1635-1703) named these structural units as cell (Latin: cella – hollow space).
• Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) who was a microbiologist, was the first to observe living cells from rainwater collection in tubes. His sketches included numerous bacteria such as bacilli, cocci, and spirilla.

 

1. 19^th century

• Mirbel, 1807: all plant tissues were also composed of cells
• Rene Dutrochet, 1824: all animal and plant tissues were “aggregates of globular cells”
• Robert Brown, 1831 discovered nucleus

 

 

 

1. 20^th century

Year	Name	Contribution
1855	C.Nageli and C.cramer	Named the cell membrane
1857	A.Kolliker	Discovered mitochondria
1865	G. Mendal	Principles of heredity
1866	Haeckel	Named plastid
1870	W. His	Developed microtome
1873	A.Schneider	Described chromosomes
1875	E.Starburger E.van Beneden	Described mitosis in plant 1st observer the centriole
1878	Schleicher	Coined the term Karyokinesis
1879	W.flemming	Introduced the term chromatin
1882	W.Pfitzner	Discovered chromomeres in chromosomes
1883	W. Roux Schimper Meyer E. Metchnikoff	Chromosomes contain heredity Introduced the term chloroplast Details of chloroplast Observed phagocytosis
1886	C.A. MacMunn	Discovered cytochromes
1888	T. Boveri	Coined the term centrosome
1898	Camillo Golgi	Described Golgi complex
1900	C.Garnier	Introduced the term Ergastoplasm
1901	e.strasburger	Introduced term plasmodesmata
1903	E.Buchner	Discovered enzymes
1904	F.meves	presence of mt. in plants
1905	J.e.Moore	Coined term meiosis
1906	M.Tswett	Invented column chromatography
1907	R.G. Harrison	Tissue culture techniques
1908	E. Metchnikoff & P. Ehrlich	Phagocytosis of bacteria during infection
1915	R. Wilstatter	Studies on chlorophyll and other plant pigments
1922	A.V. Hill & O.Mayerhof	Relationship btw. Muscle metabolism and lactic acid
1930	K.landsteiner	Blood groups and agglutinins or antigens
1933	T.H. Morgan   A.Tiselius	Role of chr. In the transmission of heredity Techniques of electrophoresis
1935	J.danielli	Sandwich model of plasma membrane
1937	H.A. Krebs	Discovered citric acid cycle
1939	F.A. Lipman	Proposed metabolic role for ATP
1942	Martin & Synge	Partition chromatography leads to paper chromatography
1943	A.Claude	Isolated cell components such as ribosomes, mitochondria
1945	K.R. Porter	Discovered E.R(endoplasmic reticulum)
1947	C.F. Cori	Glycogen metabolism
1948	C.du Duve A.Tiselius	Isolated Lysosomes Chemistry of proteins
1953	Robinson & brown	Ribosomes in plant cell
1955	G.E. palade	Observed ribosomes in animal cell and detected RNA
1956	J.H. Tjio and A. levan	1st correct human chromosome sequence
1960	Park and Pon	Discovered Quantosomes in chloroplast
1961	M. Calvin	Photosynthesis, Calvin cycle
1962	M.F. Perutz	Studies on the structure of globular proteins
1963	J. Eccles	Role of sodium and potassium ions in nerve impulses
1964	K. Bloch & F. lynem	Cholesterol and fatty acid metabolism
1965	De Duve	Coined term peroxisome for catalase
1971	E.A. Sutherland	Mechanism of hormones, roles of cyclic AMP
1972	S.J. singer & G.L. Nicolson	Fluid mosaic model
1982	Aaron Klug	Studies on the structure of complicated biological molecules such as proteins and nucleic acid
1984	Schwartz and cantor	Developed pulsed-field gel electrophoresis
1987	S. Tonegawa	Discovered the field of antibodies(immunobiology)

 

                                                                                                                       

Reference:

Cell Biology, Genetics, Molecular Biology, Evolution and Ecology (S. Chand)

P.S. Verma, V.K. Agarwal