Interview question : if you could be one cell in the body ...

Started by zeiss
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zeiss

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... which one would it be and why ?

My answer : fibroblast

What would be your answer to this question ?
 
A progenitor cell. They lead to many different kinds of cells (immune cells, WBCs, RBCs), help the body fight infection (down the road of diversification that is), and can adapt to what the body needs them to be.
 
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Easy. Serial killer T cells. You know, the ones that Dr. Carl H June's lab genetically modified using non-pathogenic HIV containing genes to allow T cells to recognize and kill tumor cells of chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
 
Neuron...hey, just because I'm suddenly unicellular doesn't mean I want to measure my life in days/weeks instead of years!
 
Oooh, I think I'd choose to be a neuron as well. Specifically, it would give me great pleasure to be a dopamine-loving neuron from the nucleus accumbens. 😎
 
I'd be any cell in the Fallopian tubes/ovaries area that isn't routinely lost because I'm a fan of the Longhorns and the female digestive tract REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM looks like the Longhorns' symbol.

I was working overnight when I posted that. Forgive me. >.<
 
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Tongue cell. I like food. And talking. And other fun things that tongues do.

Edit: and one of my fav. arguments against "Nature didn't intend for so-and-so body part to do that!" is "Nature didn't intend for the tongue to lick stamps either." 😉
 
armybound said:
I wish people wouldn't ask such pointless interview questions. What does it really accomplish?
Click to expand...

Because these schools select against applicants who aren't bio majors, which kills them as diversity is destroyed. This question is useless.
 
Mitochondria - the party don't start till I walk through the door B)

But I cheated and picked an organelle instead lol
 
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I'd be an osteocyte. Yea...they're pretty solid. *intentional pun cuz that's my humor*
Plus I'm not going anywhere any time soon.
 
Captain Sisko said:
Endosymbiant theory says it used to be its own cell. Prokaryote though, so I guess it still doesn't qualify.
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Nah, the question was "cell in the human body"...didn't specify further. You could, for example, go with a gut bacterium if you so chose...actually, given that they outnumber our cells, it's not a bad option. First dibs on french fries for (a very short) life!
 
mehc012 said:
Nah, the question was "cell in the human body"...didn't specify further. You could, for example, go with a gut bacterium if you so chose...actually, given that they outnumber our cells, it's not a bad option. First dibs on french fries for (a very short) life!
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Very good point, I thought of that just after I posted last. My vote still goes to the cancer cell above. Divide and conquer!
 
Gotta be a stem cell. That way you could serve different needs, depending on what the body wants. Also, then you don't have programmed senescence (at least pre-differentiation), and your main job is to reproduce😉.
 
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like a couple others here I'd obviously have to be a sperm cell...

I'm just gonna keep on swimming towards my goal with the odds stacked against me hoping I someday get to reach and fertilize that egg.

keep on swimming people.

EDIT: I originally wrote this thinking it'd end up a funny post, but turns out my life actually greatly resembles that of a sperm cell. inspirational haha
 
I'd be a B cell because I provide the body with its "humoral" response and I don't die that quickly like what happens with a neutrophil:heckyeah:
 
Anicetus said:
The Egg Cell. Literally the sluttiest cell in the body.
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How is the egg slutty? The vast majority of egg cells only couple with 1 partner. 😵

I suppose they are occasionally covered in splooj, but aren't we all from time to time?
 
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Platelet! When things go haywire, I like to be involved in the process of patching things up and calming down the situation.
 
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