• Question: who many different types of cells are there in the human body

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      Asked by Aoife to Aoife, Brian, Conor, Louise, Matthew on 15 Nov 2016.
      • Photo: Louise Mc Grath

        Louise Mc Grath answered on 15 Nov 2016:

        Hi Aoife,

        There are approximately 200 types of cells in a human body! Different cells have different functions, for example skin cells make up the skin while red blod cells are found and help deliver oxygen in our blood.
        A long list can be found on this website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_distinct_cell_types_in_the_adult_human_body

      • Photo: Matthew Kitching

        Matthew Kitching answered on 15 Nov 2016:

        hey Aoife!

        good question – so as louise said, we currently know about 200 different types of cell in the human body! which is already quite a lot!

        But this isn’t a finished map! scientists have until recently classified cell types largely on morphology (how they look) and internal structure (histology). Now using special techniques we can actually look at what genes (the coding regions of DNA) are being expressed. This means research scientists think that they’re might be many many more cell type than we currently think!

        This is an active area of research – if you became a scientist – you might be able to help draw out this new map of cell types. Sound like fun? I think it sounds awesome!

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