All but two wallpaper symmetry groups are described with respect to primitive cell axes, a coordinate basis using the translation vectors of the lattice.

Using microscopy and microsurgery, he was able to examine the placement of cell axes during early cell division of C.elegans embryos.

Specialized rhisodermal cells, trichoblasts, form long tubular structures (from 5 to 17 micrometers in diameter and from 80 micrometers to 1.5 millimeters in length) almost perpendicular to the main cell axis - root hairs that absorb water and nutrients.