CIRM Creativity Day Program: Training Tomorrow’s Stem Cell Scientists

It’s that time of year once again, when some of the brightest and most motivated high school students across California are given the opportunity to see first-hand what it’s like to perform cutting-edge stem cell research.

Called the CIRM Creativity Day Program, this is a fundamental part of our mission to train the next generation of Californian stem cell scientists. Scientists who we hope will one day advance stem cell-based therapies that relieve human suffering from chronic disease and injury.

Offered to high-caliber students of all backgrounds, one of the program’s main goals is to give those who otherwise would not have had the opportunity to participate in cutting-edge biomedical research a taste of what it is like. The eight-to-ten week internship culminates with Creativity Day, an all-day event where each student showcases the results of his or her research project to senior scientists and CIRM staff.

But simply awarding these internships is not enough—just as important is communicating their value to you: policymakers, patient advocates and the public.

So who better to give an inside look into these internships than the students themselves?

Throughout the summer, students will write, photograph and/or film their experiences. You can follow along right here on the CIRM blog as we select occasional posts to share. The students are also already sharing their experiences on Instagram—log in and check out the official hashtag: #CIRMCreativityLab as they document their research progress.

And some students are busily filming creative, fun and informative videos documenting their experiences. When those are complete you’ll be able to view and share them right here on our blog! Want to see what kind of videos last year's students created? Check out our compilation from 2013.

So stay tuned in the coming days and weeks as we discover up close and personal what it’s like to be a stem-cell scientist and to see the faces of the next generation of researchers who could one day change the world.

[Photo Courtesy: Scott Voulgaris, 2014 CIRM Creativity Lab Student]

Anne Holden