UCLA stem cell research tour lights path to STEM for high school students

The Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA welcomed nearly 100 Los Angeles-area high school students to its labs for a day of scientific exploration on October 15 and 16 in celebration of Stem Cell Awareness Day.

In total, 92 freshmen, juniors and seniors from East Los Angeles Renaissance Academy and Odyssey STEM Academy, as well as their science teachers, visited the center’s research labs, got their questions about research life and college prep answered by a curated lineup of panelists and toured the UCLA campus.

From looking at water bears and neural cells under high-resolution microscopes to witnessing a 3D bioprinter used for stem cell therapies at work, students saw firsthand how the center’s scientists carry out experiments that are revolutionizing medicine and disease treatment.

“I liked seeing the water bears under the microscope and learning that they’re pretty much immortal,” said Cristobal Duran, a freshman at Odyssey STEM Academy. “Today opened me to the idea that there are different kinds of scientists and different parts of science.”

Clockwise from right: A high school student from East Los Angeles Renaissance Academy looks at neural cells under a high-resolution microscope; water bears; neurons in a 3D brain organoid. | Credit: Microscopy images courtesy of Ken Yamauchi; Elena Zhukova

The teenagers visited labs that are working to develop new therapies for ovarian cancer, blood cancers and prostate cancer. Graduate students and postdoctoral scholars set up demo stations and presentations showcasing white blood cells, tumor samples and cutting-edge lab equipment to help the high school students connect what they were seeing to the goals of each lab.

The visitors then flexed their creative muscles by making bracelets representing the DNA sequence of a human, butterfly or Madagascar hissing cockroach.

These tours marked an expansion of the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center’s Outreach Program, which in its first two years has forged connections between dozens of trainees from the center’s Training Program with approximately 400 high school students through hands-on in-classroom activities.

The Outreach Program is committed to hosting activities that promote a curiosity in science and show that a career in STEM is possible for students of all backgrounds.

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“It’s really important to show the younger generation of future scientists what the day-to-day life of a scientist is like, and I love seeing the ‘aha’ moments on their faces when I’m introducing a new topic to them,” said center trainee Shirley Zhang, a graduate student who led tours through the lab of Dr. Andrew Goldstein, an associate professor of molecular, cell and developmental biology.

A Q&A panel featuring UCLA undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral scholars and professors answered students’ questions about navigating the challenges and rewards of pursuing a STEM degree and career path.

Questions from the high school students ranged from ethical, like “Is your research controversial?” to practical, like “How do you decide on a major in college?”

“Seeing people go to college to study things that they’re passionate about makes kids more interested about the world around them,” said Nicole Bottomley, a biochemistry teacher at Odyssey STEM Academy. “Not everyone is going to become a scientist, but this [tour] is just a phenomenal opportunity for young people to see that there’s a pathway for them to pursue whatever their interests are.”

For some, like Alessandra Solano, a junior at Odyssey STEM Academy, the tour solidified a desire to pursue a career in science. “My favorite part of today was going to the hematology lab,” she said. “I want to become an oncologist in the future so it was really cool to look at the research they did with leukemia cells and learn how they’re trying to fight them.”