Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => Cells, Microbes & Viruses => Topic started by: scientizscht on 22/11/2018 13:27:47

Title: How can we find a cell inside a water solution?
Post by: scientizscht on 22/11/2018 13:27:47

Hello!

Are there techniques to find cells in water solutions?
For example in urine?
How do they do it?

Thanks!

Title: Re: How can we find a cell inside a water solution?
Post by: scientizscht on 10/12/2018 14:29:40

Anyone please?

Title: Re: How can we find a cell inside a water solution?
Post by: Bored chemist on 10/12/2018 19:38:41

Centrifuge it so the cells "fall" to the bottom.
There are also light scattering techniques etc
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_counting

Title: Re: How can we find a cell inside a water solution?
Post by: scientizscht on 10/12/2018 19:46:35

Mmm there isn't a filter or something?

Title: Re: How can we find a cell inside a water solution?
Post by: evan_au on 10/12/2018 20:32:06

Sure - you can use filters that let through water, salts and proteins, and hold back cells.
These days, you can even get filters that hold back viruses.

But the size boundaries are a bit vague - there are viruses discovered in seawater that were mis-identified as cells because they were so huge.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandoravirus

Title: Re: How can we find a cell inside a water solution?
Post by: evan_au on 11/12/2018 19:11:25

Craig Venter's Sorcerer II expedition travelled around the world, sampling seawater every 200 miles.
They filtered the water through different sized filters, then just sequenced any DNA they found. This gave them a good idea of what types of cells and viruses were present.

Quote from: Craig Venter

if you ever make it to the sea, and you swallow a mouthful of seawater, keep in mind that each milliliter has about a million bacteria and on the order of 10 million viruses.

See: https://en.tiny.ted.com/talks/craig_venter_on_dna_and_the_sea