Molecular Biology of the Cell

This chapter introduces the molecular biology of animal cells to a non-specialist audience. It explains the essential properties of cells, focusing on those attributes that are relevant to the tissue engineer. These include genes and gene expression, cell structure and metabolism, the cell surface, membrane potential, the cytoskeleton, microtubules and microfilaments, cell adhesion and the extracellular matrix. The properties of tissue culture media are covered, with an explanation of the function of each component. The chapter explains how signals from hormones or growth factors are conducted into the cell to affect gene expression or other cell behaviors. The nature of a cell type is described, as is the organization of differentiated cells into tissues and organs.