In vitro (Latin for (with)in glass) means within a test tube, or just outside a living organism (a cell). An example is In Vitro Fertilization. Alternatives of in vitro include in vivo and in silico, within a cell, and computational, respectively. As many experiments that deal with molecular biology are conducted outside of cells, and the conditions do not necessarily represent the conditions inside the cell, results are often annotated with in vivo, in vitro, or in silico, as applies.

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