Why are some cells more resistant to treatment than others? The cloudy region on the right in this image shows undifferentiated stem cells, which display remarkable sensitivity to DNA-damaging chemotherapy when the repair protein ‘Aag’ is deleted from their genetic make-up. Once they differentiate into neurons, however, the same genetic deletion makes them resistant. Researchers are studying the development of these neurons (green) to determine why and how this switch in sensitivity occurs. They plan to apply this model to other cell types to create a more comprehensive picture of why cancer treatments succeed or fail.

See a related image from this project here.