ECACC teach key stage 4 students about stem cells

In April of this year, several ECACC colleagues attended the 19th Annual School Science Conference, hosted by the University of Westminster.

The theme of this year’s conference was Science for Regeneration, with ECACC staff helping to facilitate The Royal College of Pathologists workshop “Totally Stem-azing Cells”. Led by leading pathologists and lecturers, this session introduced students in school years 9-11 to what stem cells are and how they could be used to treat numerous diseases. Not only did the students learn about the differentiation potential of different types of stem cells, but they also held ethical discussions around the use of saviour siblings to treat Fanconi anaemia.

Being able to interact with the next generation of budding scientists and answer their questions relating to stem cells and other scientific topics was extremely rewarding for the ECACC staff, as was spreading the word about how research using stem cells is aiming to combat a wide variety of diseases.

Written by Eleanor Stiles and Pardis Avinrad

With thanks to Science4u