CELL DEVELOPMENT

The life cycle of a cell is fundamental to understanding the nature of human life itself. In order for tissue to grow and regenerate, cells must continually divide, forming identical daughter cells, in a process called mitosis. Failure to regulate the cell cycle can lead to uncontrollable cell growth - in other words, cancer.

But regulated properly, cell division and growth can lead to something beautiful - formation of new life through reproduction. During reproduction, genetic information from both parents is combined in a single cell that divides many times in order to form a zygote, then an embryo, and then, a baby. Throughout this process, cells divide and then differentiate into the cells of your highly specialized organ systems.