By Christine Tran

Staff Writer

For the second time in Gabrielino High School history, Advanced Placement Biology students had the opportunity to gain an in-depth knowledge of stem cells. Gabrielino is one out of five schools in the entire country that was able to participate in the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) high school module program where a stem cell researcher comes and teaches students.

On March 19, the AP Biology students began their journey with an introduction to stem cells and how they can be used in medicine and therapy to treat patients. Last Friday, the students worked with live mouse embryonic stem cells where they looked for chromosomes and chromosomal abnormalities to assess the health of the stem cells.   

“[Students] are going to come out of this lab having an incredible knowledge of stem cells, [which is] a knowledge that most undergraduates in biology will not get,”stated AP Biology teacher Thomas Velekei.

This past week AP Biology students observed the shape and size of embryonic mouse stem cells and its behaviors. The students created a stain, a technique that helps to better visualized cells and its components, and assessed whether or not cells are differentiated or undifferentiated.

According to the National Institutes of Health, stem cells are cells that can divide to become a cell with a more specialized function, such as a red blood cell or muscle cell. When these cells are undifferentiated it means they are still in the embryonic stage and do not look or act like specialized cells. Stem cells are used in medical research because of their potential for regeneration and repairing damaged tissue.

Carol Liu, a stem cell researcher and faculty member at both at Pasadena City College (PCC) and University of Southern California (USC), is in charge of running the stem cell lab. She has been working with stem cells for upwards of 10 years.

“The program was designed to create stem cell awareness especially in public schools and to help motivate students to persist in a stem cell career path or hopefully just stay in science,” stated Liu.

Gabrielino was granted this opportunity when a state bond was renewed and funding for the CIRM high school module program continued. PCC was looking for local high schools to begin working with and because Gabrielino has a relationship with a professor at PCC who teaches biotechnology, Gabrielino was one of the first schools that offered PCC their facilities.

“It feels like a college course because there are lectures and quizzes everyday. It is challenging and it really pushes me to think more about a science career path,” said senior Britney Pham.