embryonic stem cell research at Swarthmore

HC_Alum
Thu, 18 Oct 2007 17:32:31 +0000

That’s great. It’s a rare opportunity for undergrads to have access to this kind of research as working with stem cells requires a lot of time, patience and $ on the part of the professor and college.

The article’s 2 main assertions, however, are not true and need correction. To start, I’ve met enough pre-meds over the years to know that several top LACs train their students in stem cell research before 2007. As 1 example, Wesleyan has been doing it with mice since 2000 and there are others as well (if I remember correctly, that would include Oberlin, Williams and Wellesley, ect…).

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:NSIwpFvXipsJ:sbecker.web.wesleyan.edu/courantop-eds.html+wesleyan+stem+cells&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=6&gl=us

In addition, at HC, students in Steve Emerson’s lab work with human stem cells (from bone marrow). Also, “undifferentiated thymocytes” from mice (similar idea to stem cells but too complex to say/ understand for public buzz) has been a topic of NSF-funded immunology research at Haverford since the 1980s.

As an educational point, many colleges have labs that research stem cells from fruit flies, worms, ect… organisms that share approximately 65% of their genes with people. This by itself is the cake as well as the icing in terms of undergrad research in molecular biology. Working with stem cells from mice or humans is really extra “frosting” for undergrads and doesn’t add that much more educationally for students in the greater scheme of things. FYI.