’Feeling’ the living cell’s life cycle using optical tweezers

Lifecycle of a biological cell: cell (in centre) before mitosis (cell division) takes place. From bottom left and then clockwise: the cells become rounder and the shell thickens as the insides of the cell change - soften and fluidify. The genetic material is shared out to create two new daughter cells. (Image taken with a confocal microscope, research carried out using optical tweezers) Photo: Sebastian Hurst Göttingen researchers use laser to reveal that the inside of living cells softens and fluidifies when dividing Living cells are the basic building blocks of all organisms. We, as humans, are essentially a collection of trillions of living cells: and all these cells emerge from a single fertilized egg. This means that "mitosis" (or cell division) is one of the most fundamental and important processes of life. It is known that cells change drastically in shape and mechanical properties when they divide.