Breaking Rank: How Identical Cells Take on Different Fates
Breaking Rank: How Identical Cells Take on Different Fates
Collections: Image Award Winners
2012 Award Winner
Ni Ji
Van Oudenaarden Lab
Koch Institute at MIT, MIT Department of Biology, MIT Department of Physics
Epi-Fluorescence Micrograph
A multicellular organism like a human develops, incredibly, from just one embryonic cell. This image captures a snapshot of this process in a developing worm. At this moment, two seemingly identical neural stem cells move apart and begin to give rise to cells that will be distinct and specialized in the adult worm.
![](/files/images/styles/exhibit_full/public/imce/exhibits/2012/niji.jpg?itok=iwptgoHp)
Video
Ni Ji explains how and why she captured this snapshot of development in a worm.