Several Loomis Chaffee students are spending part of their summer working at The Institute for Regenerative Medicine at The University of Pennsylvania. The Institute was established in 2007 to promote discoveries in stem cell biology and regeneration and to translate these discoveries into new therapies to alleviate suffering and disease, and to encourage and advance education, public discourse and debate as it relates to stem cell and regeneration biology.

For six weeks, the students hone their research skills working alongside professors and graduate students at the Institute. Loomis Chaffee biology teacher Jeffrey Holcombe began the summer program five years ago. In that time, students have worked at UPenn and at Harvard Medical School. Continuing in that tradition, Brian Hsia ’10 has just completed a three-week internship at the Scadden Lab of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.
 
The UPenn program, now in its third year, is directed by Dr. Makoto Senoo. Dr. Senoo’s research explores the potential of adult stem cells to cross their own lineage and to establish a framework of stem cell plasticity using epithelial stem cells as a model. While At UPenn, students have worked on cell cycle regulation in yeast in Professor Frank Luca’s lab. Helen MacDonald ’10, who completed the program last year, says she “learned about yeast cells, how paradoxically complex and yet simple they are — and a lot about the demands of science.” Helen is on her way to Brown University in the fall, where she will continue to pursue a path toward a career in medicine.