Oregon Public Broadcasting

Biologists at the University of Oregon have discovered how it is that one cell manages to divide into two. Kristian Foden-Vencil reports.

Most of us remember grainy science films from school, where one round cell gradually squeezes itself into two cells.

Two become, four; four become eight -- it’s the basic mechanism by which animals grow. But scientists weren’t exactly sure how it was happening.

Now, in a report published in the journal ‘Science,’ Bruce Bowerman and a team of scientists from the University of Oregon have figured it out.

Bruce Bowerman: “There are not any obvious direct applications to human health from what we’ve done. But, understanding the mechanics of cell division is fundamental important to our understanding our cancer biology.”

That’s because on a very basic level, cancer is just cells dividing out of control.  So Bowerman says, if scientists know how cells divide, they’re one step closer to developing medications to fight cancer.