Etch A Cell - Demolition Squad

In Etch A Cell – demolition squad we need you to help us study lysosomes.

Lysosomes are a type of organelle (a specialised structure that performs a specific job inside a cell). They are balloon shaped sacs that contain a range of enzymes that can break down biological substances (proteins, sugars, fats, nucleic acids). These enzymes allow lysosomes to function as the cell’s digestive system; lysosomes digest and degrade substances from both inside and outside of cells. This allows lysosomes to contribute to a range of biological functions involving demolition: lysosomes break down old worn out parts of the cell, they destroy viruses, and help digest fats and proteins when we’re starving. They even help kill cells when they get too old!

Through participating in this project you can help us learn more about lysosomes. We need you to help us study images of cells that were produced using an Electron Microscope. These microscopes use an electron beam to produce images of molecules, cells and tissues at a very high level of magnification. An important step in studying these images is called “segmentation”; this is where someone draws around structures of interest in the image, like you may have done in our other Etch A Cell projects to study the nuclear envelope, mitochondria, the endoplasmic reticulum or lipid droplets.

We hope that these projects will advance our ability to analyse biological structures using electron microscopy and segmentation. With enough volunteer help we may be able to train computers to segment automatically. This has huge potential to help us understand biology and study disease!

Thanks for contributing to our project!