This 3-D model of how cells divide may lead to breakthroughs in cancer research

Cell division is a process that scientists have been fascinated with since we first learned about cells. Through decades of study, scientists have come up with a basic narrative on how cells divide: Each phase of division, broadly called "mitosis," has been catalogued and analyzed up close. Now, the Allen Institute for Cell Science has come up with a better way to take a good look at the way all organisms form: a 3-D model that visualizes, in color-coded detail, the way a healthy human cell divides.

Announced in a press release on Wednesday, the Allen Institute's model of the Integrated Mitotic Stem Cell will enable "a deeper understanding" of the process of mitosis in human cells. In addition to helping us with "basic biology research," it will also be instrumental in cancer-related research.

Cancer is caused by the improper division and replication of cells — in the search for treatments and cures, scientists are often looking at why the specific cells that make up a cancerous growth are behaving that way. So having a full model of how a normal, healthy cell divides provides "a much-needed baseline" for comparison to cancerous cells, said Rick Horwitz, the executive director of the Allen Institute's Cell Science division.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Further studies into the mitosis process will be able to use the Allen Insitute's tool "to connect the dots between different parts of the cell," instead of studying just the chromosomes in isolation, said Tom Misteli, the director of the National Cancer Institute's Center for Cancer Research.

Take a look at the Integrated Mitotic Stem Cell here, or watch the Allen Institute's video about it below. Shivani Ishwar