Kristen Bartoli
MIT Department of Biology
Epi-fluorescence Microscopy

"This is a cell in interphase, the stage where cells grow, take up nutrients, and duplicate their DNA. The blue staining is the nucleus and is staining the DNA. Inside of the nucleus are nucleoli that contain many proteins and nucleic acids that play a role in transcribing ribosomal RNA. I was studying mitosis and staining cells with DAPI to identify the mitotic index by microscopy. During this time, I came across this interphase cell where the nucleoli resemble a set of eyes and a mouth. To me this cell seems as if it has a scared face."