Job Questions > How would you describe what you did at > NYU > Marla's Answer

Classwork. Bench work. Wrote a thesis on apoptosis in HIV-infected CD4+ cells.

Note: Apoptosis ("a-pah-toe-sis"; the second p is silent) is sometimes called "cell suicide." It is how cells take themselves out when they're damaged, or when the body no longer needs them, by cutting through their own DNA with enzymes and sending chemicals out that attract their envelopment (phagocytosis) and digestion by macrophages.

For example:

- Caterpillars apoptose their caterpillar parts when they're turning into butterflies.
- People get AIDS when HIV destroys T-cells by inducing apoptosis.
- Some cancers occur when a cell is damaged in such a away that it can't enter the apoptosis pathway.