BPoD has moved!

BPoD has recently changed our domain name - we can now be found at bpod.org.uk

Please update your bookmarks!

Now in our 13th year of bringing you beautiful imagery from biomedical science every day

Search the archive of over 4000 images

Cancer Clues
30 July 2017

Cancer Clues

How on earth, you might ask, can the hairs on the backs of fruit flies (pictured), teach scientists about cancer? Well, it’s all to do with asymmetric cell division. As a person (or fly) develops from a single fertilised egg, the initial cell divisions are symmetrical, but later asymmetrical divisions become important for establishing the different tissues of the body. Indeed, the hairs on flies’ backs are a perfect example, because they form only if the underlying cells divide in the correct asymmetrical manner. In the normal fly (left) asymmetric cell divisions are as they should be, but the bald-backed fly (right) has a mutation causing the asymmetry to be lost and hair development to fail. Cancer sometimes initiates when the normal asymmetric divisions of stem cells become symmetrical – leading to self-renewal without differentiation. Learning how flies’ hair cells divide, could therefore also provide clues to how cancer kicks off.

Written by Ruth Williams

Search The Archive

Submit An Image

Follow on Tumblr

Follow on Instagram

What is BPoD?

BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

Read More

BPoD is also available in Catalan at www.bpod.cat with translations by the University of Valencia.