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High school students find summer excitement in stem cell labs
The Los Angeles area’s largest National Public Radio station, KPCC, aired a great piece this morning on a group of local teens who gave up a summer at the beach for a summer of 40-hour weeks in stem cell labs at the Broad Center at the University of Southern California. They also did a print version of the story and both are available on the station’s web site.
Ten of the students in the USC program are part of the CIRM Creativity initiative that has 65 high school students in stem cell labs at nine universities and hospitals this summer. A smaller pilot of that program was so successful last summer that we announced the rollout of a larger initiative in March (read the press release here)
Just as CIRM places an emphasis on funding the full pipeline of stem cell research, we also value educating future stem cell scientists at all points on the educational pipeline. Kathryn Rich, director of training and educational programs at USC’s Broad Center makes that point in the KPCC piece:
We’re all very excited for the potential of stem cell and regenerative medicine and what it can do for human health. Training the next generation is a key part of that.
In addition to these summer opportunities for teens, CIRM has worked with a team at UC Berkeley to develop a five-unit on-line high school curriculum on stem cells that is available free to teachers anywhere.
The 40-hour weeks inside in a lab offer a sharp contrast to the popular view of LA teens frolicking at a beach. Rich said that most of the students love science so much that work in the lab becomes a lifestyle. One student, Sophie McCallister, agreed in the KPCC piece:
This is one of the great spots for looking into regenerative medicine and stem cells in general. I couldn’t have asked for anything more to do with my summer.
Sixty-three of the CIRM summer interns will be presenting posters on their research projects at a symposium at Stanford on Monday (August 13). We filmed some of the teens at last year’s symposium, which captured one of the better feel good moments of working at CIRM. Special thanks to CIRM colleague Mani Vessal who organizes the program.
DG
Read more stem cell research news from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine by visiting our blog at cirmresearch.blogspot.com.
Learn more about the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
2012-08-09 20:20:35
Source: http://cirmresearch.blogspot.com/2012/08/high-school-students-find-summer.html
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