W1L1

Question 1

What is Cell Physiology?

Answer 1

Study of how cells work together to perform functions in a living organism

Human body ~30 trillion cells
- Tissues to organs to organism
- Genetics, cell biology, biochemistry, etc.
- Communication bw cells and within cells

The activities within cells (and their environment) that keeps them alive

Systems that perform vital physiological functions
- Regulating oxygen, nutrient uptake, waste disposal, etc.

Question 2

Cells

Answer 2

Smallest form of life

Structural and functional unit

Organisms are made of one or more cells
~250 different types of cells in the human body

Cells arise from pre-existing cells via cell division

Cells are similar in terms of chemical composition

Energy flow of life occurs within cells

Cell Theory (Schleiden and Schwann, 1838)

Average cell is packed with high complexity
- Packed environments
- Issues with molecules finding each other. Solved by:
– compartmentalization (by membranes)
– guided signaling: have signal sequence that gets you into ER. Motifs embedded in a protein will tell the molecule where to go
– micro-domains of signaling: specialized regions in the membrane where lots of proteins can go together and signal very efficiently