Three students from the Upper School attended the USC Early Investigator High School for an eight week summer program focusing on stem cell research and developing scientific research skills.

Annelise Colvin ’15, Scott Nussbaum ’15, and Sriram Rao ’15, along with students from Lifeline Education Charter School, the Chadwick School and Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School, were able to work in professional research laboratories at the USC Health Sciences campus and Childrens’ Hospital of Los Angeles to grow and analyze stem cells for a multitude of projects. Before they were able to work in the lab however, the students participated in a week-long introductory stem cell course at the Eli and Edythe Broad CIRM Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research.

The course included numerous lectures and lab classes which addressed specific skills each student would need throughout their eight weeks. This program is one of the only opportunities for high school students to work with embryonic stem cells hands-on, according to the program website.

All 23 local students then celebrated their graduation at a Colloquium from the EiHS Program and CIRM STAR program, an additional research internship program held by USC specifically for high school students living in the areas surrounding the Health Sciences Campus. At this event, each participant in both the EiHS and STAR program presented the results of an experiment they had conducted for the duration of the program.