{"id":16661,"date":"2019-07-16T09:00:46","date_gmt":"2019-07-16T07:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.embl.de\/?p=16661"},"modified":"2024-03-22T13:35:08","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T12:35:08","slug":"potw1929","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/picture-of-the-week\/potw1929\/","title":{"rendered":"The birth of new cells \u2013 when two become four"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This colourful picture, taken by EMBL postdoc Arina Rybina using a confocal fluorescence microscope, shows human cells in the process of cell division. Eventually, each mother cell brings into existence two identical daughter cells.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To visualise the process by light microscopy, different cell components were labelled using fluorescent dyes. What look like the red teeth of little blue monsters are actually chromosomes. Membranes of a cell organelle called the endoplasmic reticulum are labelled in blue.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The process of cell division has many steps. The chromosomes have to be replicated so that two identical copies of each chromosome are present inside the cell before it divides. The copies align in the centre of the cell. Subsequently, they are dragged to opposite poles of the cell. At the same time, the membranes around each nucleus re-form, to ensure the formation of two fully functional daughter cells.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have a stunning picture of your science, your lab or your site, you can submit it <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This colourful picture, taken by EMBL postdoc Arina Rybina using a confocal fluorescence microscope, shows human cells in the process of cell division. Eventually, each mother cell brings into existence two identical daughter cells. To visualise the process by light microscopy, different cell…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":16663,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,17591],"tags":[883,859,820],"embl_taxonomy":[],"class_list":["post-16661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-picture-of-the-week","category-science-technology","tag-cell","tag-microscope","tag-picture-of-the-week"],"acf":{"article_intro":"","related_links":false,"article_sources":false,"vf_locked":false,"featured":false,"color":"#007B53","show_featured_image":false,"field_target_display":"embl","field_article_language":{"value":"english","label":"English"},"source_article":false,"in_this_article":false,"press_contact":"None","article_translations":false,"languages":""},"embl_taxonomy_terms":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe birth of new cells \u2013 when two become four | EMBL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This colourful picture, taken with a confocal fluorescence microscope, shows human cells in the process of cell division.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/picture-of-the-week\/potw1929\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The birth of new cells \u2013 when two become four | EMBL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This colourful picture, taken with a confocal fluorescence microscope, shows human cells in the process of cell division.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/picture-of-the-week\/potw1929\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EMBL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/embl.org\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-07-16T07:00:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-03-22T12:35:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/potw1920_preview.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"425\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Doreen Feike\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@embl\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@embl\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Doreen Feike\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/picture-of-the-week\/potw1929\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/picture-of-the-week\/potw1929\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Doreen Feike\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/3e184687f7ad759d93d442f3b0b177ef\"},\"headline\":\"The birth of new cells \u2013 when two become four\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-07-16T07:00:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-22T12:35:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/picture-of-the-week\/potw1929\/\"},\"wordCount\":172,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/picture-of-the-week\/potw1929\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/potw1920_preview.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"cell\",\"microscope\",\"picture of the week\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Picture of the week\",\"Science & Technology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/picture-of-the-week\/potw1929\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/picture-of-the-week\/potw1929\/\",\"name\":\"The birth of new cells \u2013 when two become four | EMBL\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/picture-of-the-week\/potw1929\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/picture-of-the-week\/potw1929\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/potw1920_preview.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-07-16T07:00:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-22T12:35:08+00:00\",\"description\":\"This colourful picture, taken with a confocal fluorescence microscope, shows human cells in the process of cell division.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/picture-of-the-week\/potw1929\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/picture-of-the-week\/potw1929\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/potw1920_preview.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/potw1920_preview.jpg\",\"width\":620,\"height\":425,\"caption\":\"Image: Arina Rybina \/ EMBL\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"European Molecular Biology Laboratory News\",\"description\":\"News from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"EMBL News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"European Molecular Biology Laboratory\",\"alternateName\":\"EMBL\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/EMBL_logo_colour-1-300x144-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/EMBL_logo_colour-1-300x144-1.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":144,\"caption\":\"European Molecular Biology Laboratory\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/embl.org\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/embl\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/embl_org\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/15813\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/emblmedia\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/3e184687f7ad759d93d442f3b0b177ef\",\"name\":\"Doreen Feike\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba467166ebf2e53c5042a97c0d3aeb76857903549a1a6b50c2b0f8257b8b0c14?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba467166ebf2e53c5042a97c0d3aeb76857903549a1a6b50c2b0f8257b8b0c14?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Doreen Feike\"},\"description\":\"Doreen Feike has a passion for science communication and is actively involved in the outreach programme at EMBL. She studied biotechnology and has a PhD in plant science.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/author\/doreen-feike\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The birth of new cells \u2013 when two become four | EMBL","description":"This colourful picture, taken with a confocal fluorescence microscope, shows human cells in the process of cell division.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/picture-of-the-week\/potw1929\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The birth of new cells \u2013 when two become four | EMBL","og_description":"This colourful picture, taken with a confocal fluorescence microscope, shows human cells in the process of cell division.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/picture-of-the-week\/potw1929\/","og_site_name":"EMBL","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/embl.org\/","article_published_time":"2019-07-16T07:00:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-03-22T12:35:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":620,"height":425,"url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/potw1920_preview.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Doreen Feike","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@embl","twitter_site":"@embl","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Doreen Feike","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/picture-of-the-week\/potw1929\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/picture-of-the-week\/potw1929\/"},"author":{"name":"Doreen Feike","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/3e184687f7ad759d93d442f3b0b177ef"},"headline":"The birth of new cells \u2013 when two become four","datePublished":"2019-07-16T07:00:46+00:00","dateModified":"2024-03-22T12:35:08+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/picture-of-the-week\/potw1929\/"},"wordCount":172,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/picture-of-the-week\/potw1929\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/potw1920_preview.jpg","keywords":["cell","microscope","picture of the week"],"articleSection":["Picture of the week","Science & Technology"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/picture-of-the-week\/potw1929\/","url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/picture-of-the-week\/potw1929\/","name":"The birth of new cells \u2013 when two become four | EMBL","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/picture-of-the-week\/potw1929\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/picture-of-the-week\/potw1929\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/potw1920_preview.jpg","datePublished":"2019-07-16T07:00:46+00:00","dateModified":"2024-03-22T12:35:08+00:00","description":"This colourful picture, taken with a confocal fluorescence microscope, shows human cells in the process of cell division.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/picture-of-the-week\/potw1929\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/picture-of-the-week\/potw1929\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/potw1920_preview.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/potw1920_preview.jpg","width":620,"height":425,"caption":"Image: Arina Rybina \/ EMBL"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/","name":"European Molecular Biology Laboratory News","description":"News from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization"},"alternateName":"EMBL News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization","name":"European Molecular Biology Laboratory","alternateName":"EMBL","url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/EMBL_logo_colour-1-300x144-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/EMBL_logo_colour-1-300x144-1.png","width":300,"height":144,"caption":"European Molecular Biology Laboratory"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/embl.org\/","https:\/\/x.com\/embl","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/embl_org\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/15813\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/emblmedia\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/3e184687f7ad759d93d442f3b0b177ef","name":"Doreen Feike","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba467166ebf2e53c5042a97c0d3aeb76857903549a1a6b50c2b0f8257b8b0c14?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba467166ebf2e53c5042a97c0d3aeb76857903549a1a6b50c2b0f8257b8b0c14?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Doreen Feike"},"description":"Doreen Feike has a passion for science communication and is actively involved in the outreach programme at EMBL. She studied biotechnology and has a PhD in plant science.","url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/author\/doreen-feike\/"}]}},"field_target_display":"embl","field_article_language":{"value":"english","label":"English"},"fimg_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/potw1920_preview.jpg","featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/potw1920_preview.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16661"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19929,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16661\/revisions\/19929"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16661"},{"taxonomy":"embl_taxonomy","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/embl_taxonomy?post=16661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}