This program opens with Dr. Dave Moran, the narrator, at the helm of the million-volt HVEM (High Voltage Electron Microscope) at the University of Colorado. This remarkable instrument occupies a three-story portion of the Porter Biosciences Building at the Boulder campus. When Dr. Keith Porter — Dave Moran’s mentor, to whom this Series is dedicated — moved from Harvard University to CU, one of the first things he did was organize the purchase and installation of the HVEM, on which Dave and co-author Carter Rowley spent many happy and exciting hours doing research in cellular neurobiology.
In the introduction, we learn cells — with their 10 billion protein molecules — have a lot of biochemical housekeeping to do. They accomplish much of this with “organelles”, some of which — like mitochondria, the endoplasmic reticulum (rough and smooth), the Golgi apparatus, lysosomes, and the cell’s nucleus — are membrane-limited compartments in the cytoplasm designed to carry out specific functions. Each membrane-limited organelle has a specific morphology that facilitates its identification in the electron microscope.
We start out our journey through the world of cells with a diagram of the cell from the Visual Histology text-atlas (available free on this website), where the structure and function of essential components are outlined. Then, we move on to examine various kinds of cells and their component parts by light and electron microscopy.
The half-hour program concludes with “The Practical Exam,” during which Dr. Moran shows images of various cells and their parts, asks students to identify them and explain their functions, and then gives an answer to each question, thus preparing students for the many exams to come in their careers…
