Expert: Paras Anand - 3/11/2009

Question
Dear Paras Anand,

Can we count & measure the cells? If yes, how?
I hope you will be able to help me out. But if you cannot answer, let me know where I can have the detailed description, please.

South Korea

Answer
Dear Yangkun,

Thank you for your question. Of course, it is possible to count and measure them. I do not know which cells you mean, the mammalian or the bacterial cells. Mammalian cells are relatively easy to count with the Neubauer chamber whereas the bacterial cells are normally counted by plating them on agar plates.

To measure their length, the best thing is to image them and since it is possible to calculate the length of each pixel in the image because of the camera specifications, it becomes relatively easy then to calculate the number of the pixels and then the length of the cells.

I hope it helps.

Best,