Skip to main content

Rudolf Virchow


Following on from my visit to the Huntarian museum in London, which documented anatomical specimens in innumerable jars, I visited the German equivalent in Berlin - The Medizinhistorisches Museum on Charite University campus.


As expected from the guide books and hype from my Deutsch colleagues, the exhibit is truly fascinating with some morbid sections which warrant the over 16s certification. It is these specimens that are naturally off-putting to some (as evolution dictates innate disgust at abnormality) which are incredibly fascinating documents of life trying to survive regardless of aberrant genetics. Naturally one feels a sadness when viewing some specimens, especially due to the young age of the subject, but regardless, scientific intrigue overrides in this astounding museum.


In a section of the museum devoted to eminent German scientists I read about Rudolf Virchow, and whilst reading the short summary next to a compilation of his belongings in a cabinet, I realised how important a man he was to now numerous arms of biology. Virchow was the first to hypothesise and prove that the body is comprised of different cells which perform different tasks. As an immunologist I was surprised to not have heard his name or read about him in text books before now. Virchow's cell theory "omnis cellula e cellula" - 'every living cell comes from another living cell', remains his defining contribution to the epoch of fundamental cell biology, although for some time he didn't believe that all cells divided (no cigar).

More information on the museum and Virchow can be found on the links below.

http://www.bmm.charite.de/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Virchow

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"How do NK cells know not to kill RBCs?"

I was recently asked about the surveillance system present within immunity which operates to kill virally infected cells by lack of MHC expression, and why this same system doesn't destroy red blood cells (RBC), which lack MHC. One function of Natural Killer (NK) cells is to destroy cells infected by viruses, which have a mechanism of evading T-cell killing by down-regulating MHC class I expression. MHC class I molecules are expressed on every cell in the body apart from RBCs; a lack of expression is detected by NK cells which act to destroy the cell. However, RBC remain unharmed. SEM of NK cells Red Blood Cells                         V.S Like everyone else I assumed the almighty google would provide me with the answer to my friends question, so I typed in my query and the only relevant link was to a 'yahoo answers' page, which answered a succinctly phrased question which I've used to entitle this blog entry. Unfortunately the answer just stated
2 comments
Read more

Differences between Bird Flu, Swine Flu, and Seasonal Flu

During a conversation with friends I realised I needed a better understanding of seasonal flu viruses, and how or if Swine Flu and Bird Flu are seasonal, whether there are other seasonal influenza viruses, and what protection the flu vaccine provides, as, we were all just guessing answers to these points! I couldn't readily find all of the answers online in one place, so I've pieced together information from various sources and created some comparison tables covering the more widely discussed swine, avian and seasonal influenza viruses. This post is by no means supposed to be a comprehensive review of each virus, but an overview to give readers a better understanding of seasonal flu, the viruses that cause it, and the flu vaccine. Feel free to comment with any questions or corrections, all pertinent information is referenced, the majority of which came from various pages of the World Health Organisation’s and CDC's website, alongside data from several recent publicati
Post a Comment
Read more

Science Songs #3: Jon Hopkins - Immunity

Jon Hopkins' ambient, relaxing titular track from his album, Immunity.
Post a Comment
Read more