Bio for Beginners
This is where the smallest bones in the body are located.
The ears
This useful rod bacteria is the most widely studied prokaryotic model organism and is found in many biotechnology and microbiology labs.
E. Coli
This man was the first to look at cells under a microscope.
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
This tool, found in practically every biology and chemistry lab, is used to measure and move small amounts of liquid from one place or reaction to another.
Pipette
This virus type is the most frequent cause of the common cold.
This cell type is the longest in the body.
Neuron
Commonly called "baker's (or brewer's) yeast", this fungus has wide applications in the food industry.
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
This man is credited as the "father of germ theory", and disproved spontaneous generation.
Louis Pasteur
This long, thin tool is used to streak bacteria on a plate.
Inoculation loop
Conjunctivitis
This is the name of any substance (usually produced by bacteria) that causes fever.
Pyrogen
Some species of this lactic acid producing genus are used to produce cheese, kefir, and other fermented products.
Lactobacillus
This woman discovered X inactivation and developed the theory behind female carriers of X linked diseases.
Despite her doing the same amount of work as her male counterparts, she was not allowed to earn a full degree at Cambridge, and transferred to study elsewhere.
Mary Lyon
This dye is retained in the walls of gram positive bacteria during Gram staining.
Crystal violet
This disease results in the accumulation of uric acid crystals in the joints
Gout
This hollow, woody tissue carries water and minerals from the ground to the rest of the plant.
Xylem
This gene delivery system is made from the HIV-1 virus.
This man discovered phagocytes (specifically the macrophage) and is known as the "father of innate immunity".
Élie Metchnikoff
This machine is necessary to amplify DNA fragments via PCR.
Thermocycler
This bacteria causes Lyme disease. (+100 points if you can guess the bacterial shape)
Borrelia burgdorferi (it's a spirochete!)
A common misconception about butterflies is that they pupate in cocoons. Butterflies actually pupate in this structure. (+200 points if you can guess which critter pupates in a cocoon!)
Chrysalis (and moths pupate in cocoons!)
This immortalized cell line is often used in gene transfection due to its quick growth and consistent reliability.
HEK 293
This woman discovered the lambda phage, a bacteriophage that infects E. coli, and the F plasmid, used in bacterial conjugation.
Her results are often misattributed to her husband, and she was never offered tenure.
Esther Lederberg
This machine reorients atomic nuclei with non-zero spin using a magnetic field to provide information about functional groups within a protein.
NMR spectrometer
Mycobacterium leprae is the bacteria that causes leprosy. The difference between tuberculoid leprosy (less severe) and lepromatous leprosy (more severe) is due to a differentiation failure of this immune cell.
T helper (TH) cells
TH1 cells dominate the tuberculoid leprosy response, and TH2 cells dominate the lepromatous leprosy response. When TH cells differentiate into TH1 cells, they are more suited to deal with the infection (these cells specialize in intracellular pathogens). When they differentiate into TH2 cells, they are less suited to deal with the infection (these cells specialize in multicellular parasites) and the infection becomes more severe.