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Click to select one or more cells below. Then, use the size, about, microscopy image, and location buttons below to see and compare sepcific information about the cell types.

View & Compare Cells

Roberto researcher character

Hello! I'm Roberto, the newest research assistant in Dr. Biology's lab. Our lab specializes in researching cells in the human body, including cancer cells. I'm currently studying how different cells look and what they do when they're working correctly.

Cells come in many different shapes and sizes. It's a good idea to learn how to recognize some of the cells of the human body. That way, if our samples get mixed up by accident or we receive unidentified samples, we can easily identify what type of cells we're looking at just by their shape and size.

Click on the cells below to learn more about them. Your challenge - can you discover the role of each cell type, and how its size and shape relate to its role?

What is a micron (μm)?

Cells are tiny! They're so small that you need powerful microscopes to be able to see them.

To measure the size of cells and other really tiny things, scientists use microns (also known as micrometers). The abbreviation for micron is μm. A micron is one millionth of a meter (10-6 meters).

Just how small is a micrometer? If you wanted to measure the width of a single strand of hair in microns, it would be about 70 microns across.

Close up of hair with label for 70 micrometer width

Click to select one or more cells above to begin.

Roberto researcher character

Are you finished getting familiar with the cells of the human body above, and ready to move onto the next part of your training?