Although modern cell biology is often considered to have arisen following World War II in tandem with certain technological and methodological advances—in particular, the electron microscope and cell fractionation—its origins actually date to the 1830s and the development of cytology, the scientific study of cells. By 1924, with the publication of Edmund Vincent Cowdry’s General Cytology, the discipline had stretched beyond the bounds of purely microscopic observation to include the chemical, physical, and genetic analysis of cells. Inspired by Cowdry’s classic, watershed work, this book collects contributions from cell biologists, historians, and philosophers of science to explore the history and current status of cell biology. Despite extraordinary advances in describing both the structure and function of cells, cell biology tends to be overshadowed by molecular biology, a field that developed contemporaneously. This book remedies that unjust disparity through an investigation of cell biology’s evolution and its role in pushing forward the boundaries of biological understanding. Contributors show that modern concepts of cell organization, mechanistic explanations, epigenetics, molecular thinking, and even computational approaches all can be placed on the continuum of cell studies from cytology to cell biology and beyond. The first book in the series Convening Science: Discovery at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Visions of Cell Biology sheds new light on a century of cellular discovery.

Zytologie.

Cytology and Cell Physiology, Third Edition focuses on cell cytology and physiology as well as recent advances in the techniques in studying cells, including microscopy. It also describes cell membranes, surface, and physiology; cytoplasmic constituents; nucleus and nucleocytoplasmic reactions; enzyme histochemistry and cytochemistry; viruses within cells; and morphology of the cancer cell. Organized into 13 chapters, this edition begins with a historical overview of cytology, the template hypothesis of protein synthesis, and the respiratory function of mitochondria. It then discusses the subcellular components and their centrifugal isolation, some general principles of microscopy, selected physical and physicochemical methods, applications of enzyme histochemistry to electron microscopy, and structure and physical properties of the plasma membrane. The remaining chapters focus on the endoplasmic reticulum, the Golgi apparatus, the nucleus and its role in cell metabolism, RNA synthesis and movement, the behavior of viruses within cells, and pathological changes in cells. The book concludes with a chapter on the function and metabolism of cancer cells. This book is highly recommended to cytologists, investigators in the field of pathology, and graduate students in biology, biochemistry, physiology, and anatomy.