Some student quotes:

“I didn’t know how hard it is to start your own business, or patent your inventions. It costs a lot. It was really nice to know that we have foundations to help people get started.”

“If you push yourself to find out, you can find a whole realm of possibilities through the science field.”

“I really enjoyed having Dr. Oliver come talk to us about P4 medicine, and “the cloud” which you can have your medical information looked at by others doctors that you go see.”

View more information on the Summer Student Research Fellows program at NWABR.

This program was supported by a Collaborations to Understand Research and Ethics (CURE), 1R25RR0251131, a Science Education Partnership Award from the National Center for Research Resources. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Center for Research Resources or the National Institutes of Health.

Some student quotes:

“Today we learned about how there is a lot to learn when putting someone to sleep for surgery. You have to measure your oxygen levels and blood pressure. It was very interesting especially when we made students’ muscles twitch without them doing it.”

“Today I learned how scientists test for STDs and that machines now do most of the testing.”

“There is more to nursing than meets the eye!”

 

View more information on the Summer Student Research Fellows program at NWABR.

This program was supported by a Collaborations to Understand Research and Ethics (CURE), 1R25RR0251131, a Science Education Partnership Award from the National Center for Research Resources. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Center for Research Resources or the National Institutes of Health.

– Jeanne Ting Chowning, NWABR Director of Education

Human Clinical Trials–the good, the bad, and what it takes to conduct your own.

Some student quotes:

“Today we learned that there are 3 phases to a clinical trial for humans, starting at Phase I with twenty people to Phase III with thousands of people.”

“I learned about how difficult is can be to get into human trials. Consenting is a huge part, that has been abused over the years.”

After determining if we were doing Human Subjects Research with an IRB checklist, we looked at a consent form to participate in a lung capacity study.

“Did you know you can actually measure your lung capacity? How cool is that?”

View more information on the Summer Student Research Fellows program at NWABR.

This program was supported by a Collaborations to Understand Research and Ethics (CURE), 1R25RR0251131, a Science Education Partnership Award from the National Center for Research Resources. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Center for Research Resources or the National Institutes of Health.

Some student quotes:

“I learned so much more about sickle-cell anemia. We also dressed as sophisticated researchers with our spiffy lab coats.”

“I learned about genetic testing. It can be used to determine which diseases you are most susceptible to.”

“We got to work with a sheep’s heart, and I gained a new respect for heart surgeons (some of the blood vessels are TINY!).”

View more information on the Summer Student Research Fellows program at NWABR.

This program was supported by a Collaborations to Understand Research and Ethics (CURE), 1R25RR0251131, a Science Education Partnership Award from the National Center for Research Resources. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Center for Research Resources or the National Institutes of Health.

Today we took a road trip to the College of Veterinary Medicine at Washington State University in Pullman.

Some student quotes:

“I learned how to prepare for surgery”

“I learned about all the different things a veterinarian does. I also learned about how much blood a horse’s heart pumps when it runs.”

“I learned that a horse’s maximum heart rate is 220-250 beats per minute. We actually got to see a horse on a treadmill.”

“We also learned about the WSU dairy farm and got to see new calves.

“Miguel was really cool.”

Thank you Mr. Inzunza and WSU!

View more information on the Summer Student Research Fellows program at NWABR.

This program was supported by a Collaborations to Understand Research and Ethics (CURE), 1R25RR0251131, a Science Education Partnership Award from the National Center for Research Resources. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Center for Research Resources or the National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Marsh

STUDENT QUOTES OF THE DAY

“After hearing Dr. Marsh, Heidi, Will and Michele’s experiences with experimenting with rats and the close regulations around it, I felt better about using animals for research.”

“Research on mice is done with the best care and benefits both humans and animals.”

“We learned about animal roles  in research. I personally don’t really support it but it’s cool to see what they can do with the animals.”

3rs

View more information on the Summer Student Research Fellows program at NWABR.

This program was supported by a Collaborations to Understand Research and Ethics (CURE), 1R25RR0251131, a Science Education Partnership Award from the National Center for Research Resources. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Center for Research Resources or the National Institutes of Health.

“Today we learned about what nurses had to go through to be certified. It was cool looking in at the simulation labs because it looked useful for the future when doing practices on real patients….though those mannequins were creepy.” –Candace

“I learned about absolute and relative ignorance. Like the fact that absolute ignorance is when no one knows the answer to a question [like in scientific research] and relative ignorance is when a person know an answer but other people do.” — Heather

Dr. Banasik's Blood Draw

Dr. Banasik showed us how patients get blood drawn for her study on addiction. We spun the blood in a centrifuge to see how it separates.

Kitty litter in the lab? Kendra finds out it is part of a spill kit. Absorbancy is good.

Kendra with Kitty Litter: For cats, or lab spills?

WSU School of Nursing, here we are!

View more information on the Summer Student Research Fellows program at NWABR.

This program was supported by a Collaborations to Understand Research and Ethics (CURE), 1R25RR0251131, a Science Education Partnership Award from the National Center for Research Resources. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Center for Research Resources or the National Institutes of Health.

Micropipetting Machine

What a great group of students from the Spokane area–and what a day!

“We learned how to determine if a question is ethical. We also learned how to use an assortment of new tools–sequencing DNA.” – Kelsey

“We were future CSI trainees.” – Habeebah

CSI Spokane

Dr. Sylvia Oliver taught us how to use micropipettes and run gel electrophoresis boxes to find out if a horrendous crime was committed to cover up the kidnapping of a baby.

The DNA doesn’t lie!

Stained with Cyber Gold, visible under UV light

How much is a million?

Jason and Vlad Find One in a Million

The Big Find: See it? The little black bead right in the middle? That's it!

View more information on the Summer Student Research Fellows program at NWABR.

This program was supported by a Collaborations to Understand Research and Ethics (CURE), 1R25RR0251131, a Science Education Partnership Award from the National Center for Research Resources. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Center for Research Resources or the National Institutes of Health.

On April 9, 2011 the Youth Ethics Summit brought together students from across the Puget Sound region to learn about topics related to ethics, medicine, and biomedical research that are of special relevance to young people.

Presented by NWABR and UW’s Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine (ISCRM), this year’s summit focused on stem cells and featured tours, panels, and breakout discussions. The Summit provided an opportunity for students from different schools to meet and to participate in discussions and presentations about ethics in science issues.

Students Say

Students who experienced the Summit said:

• I learned just how much control we have/might have soon. Knowing where to draw the line isn’t easy, and it’s something we all need to discuss and understand in order to make wise choices as individuals and as a society.
• We were able to express our own ideas and see what other people thought about them … the discussions we had in our breakout groups were very thought-provoking … listening to different view points on things helped me learn a lot more about them.
• The tours gave me insight on what real life stem cell research would be like and how it would be to work in a lab in the future.
• It was absolutely amazing going into three different labs focusing on the application of stem cells, the stem cells themselves, and the use of robots in research. The groups were small, we had the opportunity to look at both embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells through microscopes, and the researchers were all extremely informative.
• In the laboratories we toured, I saw myself in the scientist gown, handling the different machines.
• It was a wonderful learning experience that I would recommend anyone who is interested in bioethics … I loved the chance to meet similar-minded teens in the Seattle-area and talk about this fascinating topic.

Stem Cells 101

We began with a brief presentation of “Stem Cells 101″ by Professor Tony Blau, MD, Director of the Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine.

“If you took a drop of blood from my finger, put it on a glass slide, smeared it and stained it and looked at it under the microscope, you’d see different types of cells, including what?” Blau asked. Hands shot up, and Blau took three fast answers, one each from three students: white blood cells, red blood cells, platelets. “And they would look obviously different from each other,” Blau continued, describing what each looks like under a microscope, “but they all come from the same mother cell, a stem cell.”

Dr. Tony Blau, Professor of Medicine, Hematology, Adjunct Professor of Genome Sciences, and Co-Director, Institute for Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine

In each of us, we might have a trillion cells in our blood, but we have about 10,000 blood-generating stem cells. “Where are these stem cells?” Blau asked and another student answered: in the bone marrow.

The professor next defined leukemia (cancer of the blood or bone marrow) and one life-saving treatment for it, dependent on stem cells and developed “next door” at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Stem cell transplantation with bone-marrow-derived stem cells was led by Dr. E. Donnall Thomas, whose work was recognized in 1990 with a Nobel Prize.

Dr. Blau explained the basics of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, of regenerative medicine as studied at the ISCRM, and he introduced what we would see for ourselves, next — in tours of several research labs on campus at UW South Lake Union.

Tour One: Tony Blau Lab – cancer biology and stem cells

There are about 500 researchers at UW South Lake Union. Neighbors include the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Seattle Childrens’ Research Institute, Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, Novo Nordisk, PATH, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, et al.

Researchers Tony Blau, Chris Miller, and Kyle Rattray of the Blau Lab

Researchers Kyle Rattray and Kathy Davidson at the Blau Lab

Tour Two: Mike Laflamme Lab – cardiovascular research

Professor Laflamme’s lab researches cardiac applications for human embryonic stem cells, including repair and regeneration of ventricular, atrial, and other cells from embryonic stem cells.

Professor Mike Laflamme, Pathology, Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Washington

Researcher Jay Gantz, UW Bioengineering

Tour Three: Tim Martins, Co-Director of the Quellos High Throughput Screening Core - screening molecules for drug development

Dr. Tim Martins, Co-Director welcomes us to the Quellos High Throughput Screening Core, full of the robotics and automation which have vastly improved biomedical research with improved speeds for identifying therapeutic drug candidates.

Dr. Martins was asked about making mistakes in experiments. He replied "I make mistakes, but I'm not afraid to make mistakes," while explaining failure rate in research and the importance of confidence.

Dr. Tim Martins with ready answers on our tour

Robots! at the Quellos High Throughput Screening Core

Hands-on with Planaria and Play-dough

After our tours and lunch, we enjoyed hands-on activities with planaria and Play-dough — to model human embryonic development.

Dr. Reitha Weeks, PhD, Program Manager for Science Outreach at NWABR introduces planaria

Planaria are “the regeneration experts” explains Reitha Weeks of NWABR — if you separate one worm into 279 pieces, they grow into 279 worms!  Planaria also serve as model organisms for understanding human stem cells.

NWABR offers resources for teaching about biomedical research and ethics, including our popular Stem Cell unit with “Plenty of Planaria” to model stem cell function, development, and the complexity of tissue regeneration.

The curriculum is geared towards high school students and available for download free of charge.

Microscope, camera, and monitor loaned to us by Leica Microsystems, Inc. Thank you!

Next up, modeling early embryo development — with play-dough!

Play-dough Egg and Sperm

Jeanne Chowning, MS, Director of Education at NWABR leads the activity

Students in Dawn Tessandore's AP Biology class

Breakout Groups: Ethical Issues in Stem Cells

After the above activities, we broke out into groups to discuss ethical issues more closely. A few of the groups were photographed, as below. Group leaders and subjects included:

• TONY BLAU, MD – Stem Cell Treatments: Considering the risks and benefits of testing stem cell treatments in humans.
• DAVID EMERY, PhD – Embryonic Stem Cells: How far should we go in seeing if they can grow into embryos?
• ERICA JONLIN, PhD – Savior Siblings: “My Sister’s Keeper” – what if you were a genetic “designer baby” created to save your sick sister?
• KATHY DAVIDSON, PhD – Embryos and Research – Creation and Donation: Should researchers be allowed to encourage couples to donate embryos?
• KYLE RATTRAY, MD/PhD Program – Social Justice: Disease Research and Stem Cells: What diseases should be prioritized in stem cell research?
• CHRIS MILLER, PhD – Knowing Your Future: What Can Your DNA Tell You? How much do we want to know about the relative risks of what potentially lies ahead for us?

TONY BLAU, MD -- Stem Cell Treatments: Considering the risks and benefits of testing stem cell treatments in humans

KATHY DAVIDSON, PhD -- Embryos and Research - Creation and Donation: Should researchers be allowed to encourage couples to donate embryos?

KYLE RATTRAY, MD/PhD Program -- Social Justice: Disease Research and Stem Cells: What diseases should be prioritized in stem cell research?

Youth Ethics Summit 2011 was blogged by Brian Glanz for NWABR

Photography by Mohini Patel Glanz.

Youth Ethics Summit 2011 was presented by:

and

This program was supported by a Collaborations to Understand Research and Ethics (CURE), 1R25RR0251131, a Science Education Partnership Award from the National Center for Research Resources. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Center for Research Resources or the National Institutes of Health.