June 1, 2017 (Vol. 37, No. 11)
Rating:
Strong Points: Good hematology resource
Weak Points: Not much text, some features link only to website
Platform:
iPad, iPhone, Android
Cost:
Free
Summary:
Though geared toward a somewhat narrowly defined demographic, the CellAtlas app is a useful app to study cell morphology within the context of hematology. The app primarily consists of a collection of histology images that are organized into four categories (referred to as “courses” within the app): hematopoiesis, leukocytes in peripheral blood, erythrocytes in peripheral blood, and other findings in peripheral blood. Each course includes a brief commentary on the topic and a series of images corresponding to different cell types. For example, the leukocytes course includes images of neutrophils, eosinophils, and lymphocytes. Each cell type is briefly described, though the app does not include a great deal of text. A quiz feature within the app uses the histology images to test app users’ recognition of specific cell types.