2003 Public Lecture Series
Through the Microscope: Imaging Life at the Cellular Level - Part 2
"All organisms are composed of… like parts, namely,… cells: these cells are formed and grow in accordance with essentially the same laws; hence, [life] processes must everywhere result from the operation of the same forces." From a biological perspective this theory of the cell, enunciated in 1838 by Matthias Schleiden and Theodor Schwann in Mikroskopische Untersuchungen, is equaled only by Charles Darwin's theory of evolution published 21 years later. Not only does it outline the common organization underlying the external diversity of life, it also emphasizes that every biological problem, in sickness and health, must ultimately be addressed at the cellular level. The cell and evolutionary theories were subsequently unified in the 20th century under the "chromosomal theory of heredity." This lecture will discuss how cells segregate copies of their chromosomal "blueprints" to daughter cells during cell division, and why errors in this process are so rare.
Conly Leroy Rieder, Ph.D.
Dr. Rieder is chief of the Wadsworth Center's Laboratory of Cell Regulation. He has published more than 150 papers on mitosis, or cell division, most in prestigious international journals which have featured his pictures on their covers. In 2000 he was awarded a 10-year (Merit) grant by the National Institutes of Health to fund his work. He received a doctorate in cell biology from the University of Oregon and did postdoctoral work in pathobiology and zoology at the University of Wisconsin. He is active as an international speaker and has been featured in television specials on cell biology, including an appearance on a National Geographic film "The Cell," and a recent segment on the Discovery Channel Canada.