Nucleotides can be radiolabeled before they are incorporated into newly forming DNA and can therefore be assayed to track their incorporation. In a set of experiments, a student-faculty research team used labeled T nucleotides and introduced these into the culture of dividing human cells at specific times.
The research team used the setup to study the incorporation of labeled nucleotides into a culture of lymphocytes and found that the lymphocytes incorporated the labeled nucleotide at a significantly higher level after a pathogen was introduced into the culture. They concluded that
infection causes lymphocytes to divide more rapidly.