City  College  of  San  Francisco  Stem  Cell  Pipeline  

Stem  Cell  and  Cell  Culture  Program  for  High  School  Students  

Stem  Cell  Pipeline  Program  

•  Classes  are  designed  for  high  school  students  •  BTEC  5–  seminar  class  

•  BTEC  6–  stem  cell  class  

•  Students  start  earning  credit  to  cer=ficates  and  AS  degrees  

•  Students  are  recruited  by  their  high  schools.  •  High  schools  are  recruited  by  the  community  college.  

What’s  new  

•  Classes  offered  at  Aus=n  Community  College  TX  and  Alamance  Community  College  NC  

•  New  ar=cula=on  with  Sequoia  &  San  Mateo  High  School  districts  

•  Summer  classes  for  distance  schools  •  Curriculum  on  Bio-­‐Link  Clearinghouse  •  Driving  Biotech  programs  at  other  HS  like  Burton  &  Leadership  

•  Collabora=on  with  Gladstone  Ins=tutes  for  summer  Biotech  “Boot-­‐camp”  

BTEC  6  Basics  of  Cell  Culture  

•  9  weeks  long  •  Class  meets  once  a  week  

•  4  hours  each  session  •  Both  lecture  and  laboratory  components  

Introduc5on  to  the  cell  culture  equipment  

•  Basic  cell  culture  techniques:  

•  Defros=ng  cells  from  frozen  stocks  •  Feeding  and  passaging  cells  in  culture  •  Coun=ng  cells  and  calcula=ng  concentra=ons  •  Serial  dilu=on  and  pla=ng  cells  •  Freezing  and  storage  

•  Experiments:  

•  Asep=c  technique  and  serial  dilu=on  prac=ce  •  Count  and  plate  specific  number  of  cells  •  Live  and  dead  cell  iden=fica=on  using  fluorophores  •  Survival  assay  •  Transfec=on  •  Stem  cell  differen=a=on  

Iden5fica5on  of  live  and  dead  cells  using  PI  and  

Calcein  AM  

Transfec5on  of  cells  by  pDsRed2-­‐Mito    

Survival  Assay  

IC50

0.5  

Map 2 protein (red) in differentiated neurons

Pluripotent ESCs ESCs in suspension Week 1- Floating EBs

Week 2-Differentiated neurons

+ RA

Differentiation of embryonic stem cells into neurons

Immunocytochemistry

What  is  your  level  of  interest  in  con=nuing  your  educa=on  in  the  fields  of  health  sciences  and/or  biology?  

Very high High Moderate Low Very low 0  

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Students’  Comments  

•  “Personally  I  am  .red  a0er  a  day  of  school.  There  is  only  so  much  lecturing  I  can  take.”  

•  “Lectures  were  boring,  but  informa.ve.”  

•  “Students  want  prac.ce  more  than  lecture  some.me  lectures  makes  us  bored.”  

Ideas  to  make  lectures  more  interac5ve??  

More  Student  Comments:  

•  “It  was  interes.ng  to  see  the  cardiomyocytes  beat.  It’s  amazing  that  we  preEy  much  made  our  own  neurons/  cardiomyocytes.”  

•  “I  think  this  class  is  a  very  good  class  experience  to  have.  I  don’t  know  any  other  high  schooler  who  has  seen  bea.ng  fluorescent  cells.”  

•  “This  was  an  amazing  experience.”  •  “I  enjoyed  doing  the  labs  and  wish  that  the  class  lasted  longer  so  we  could  do  more  labs.”  

•  “I  learned  a  lot.  Should  offer  more  classes  for  high  school  students.”  

Our  Partners  

•  San  Francisco  High  schools:  Lincoln  Wallenberg  Galileo  Leadership  Mission  

•  Alamance  Community  College,  NC  

•  Aus=n  Community  College,  TX  

Available  Class  materials  on  Bio-­‐Link  Clearinghouse  

•  Student  manual  •  Instructor’s  manual  

•  Quizzes  and  exams  

•  Prac=ce  problem  sets  

•  Lectures  

Challenges:  1.  Equal  opportunity  for  students  at  

partner  high  schools  (11  high  schools,  8  ISDs)  

2.  Poli=cal  climate  toward  human  ES  cells  

3.  Student  transporta=on  to  campus  

Challenge:  Picking  par=cipants  

Solu=on:  •  Created  a  panel  to  address  logis=cs  :    ACC  representa=ves  and  high  school  teachers  •  Designed  and  implemented  an  applica=on  process  to  select  par=cipants  from  interested  students  

Results:  •   Class  of  10  students  and  a  high  school  teacher-­‐  represen=ng  three  high  schools  and  2  ISDs  

Challenge:  Poten=ally  conten=ous  poli=cs  

Solu=on:  •  Used  mouse  iPS  cells  rather  than  human  ES  cells  

Results:  •  Protocols  are  having  to  be  developed  for  the  course  using  this  alterna=ve  cell  line.  

Challenge:  Transporta=on  

Solu=on:  •  Required  students  to  provide  their  own  means  of  transporta=on.    

Results:  •   Many  of  the  students  from  lower  socioeconomic  areas  or  from  areas  far  from  the  campus  were  not  able  to  par=cipate.  

Current/Future  work:  1.  Begin  offering  in  the  summer  to  increase  

availability.  2.  Develop  an  ebook  for  the  course  to  make  

it  more  interac=ve  and  accessible  to  other  schools.  

3.  Adapt  the  course  to  be  taught  in  the  high  school  with  a  corresponding  stem  cell  workshop  at  ACC.  

First  Year  

•  Recruited  from  5  high  schools  and  the  middle  college  on  ACC  campus  

•  11  fall  semester,  8  spring  semester  

•  Mix  of  juniors  and  seniors  

•  Background  of  basic  algebra  &  biology  

Things  That  Didn’t  Work  

•  Extracurricular,  no  school  credit  – Selling  point:  what  makes  you  stand  out  in  the  field  of  applicants  to  your  school  of  choice  

•  Resolu=on:  students  get  a  Cer=ficate  of  Comple=on  

•  Future  direc=on:  extend  the  program  to  full  semester  with  more  microbiology,  sterility  basics  – Becomes  dual  enrollment  with  credit  

Things  That  Didn’t  Work  

•  Working  around  two  different  school  schedules,  breaks,  holidays,  etc.  – Some=mes  2  weeks  between  mee=ngs  – Cells  need  care  

•  Arranged  ac=vi=es  to  allow  for  =me  to  complete  experiments  without  long  breaks  

Things  That  Didn’t  Work  

•  Not  able  to  get  ESC  for  the  first  semester  –  numerous  technical  difficul=es  – Obtained  for  the  second  semester  – Not  the  same  as  the  mESC  line  used  at  CCSF,  some  results  were  slightly  different  •  No  bea=ng  cardiomyocytes,  did  get  neuron  differen=a=on  

What  Worked  

•  Started  with  basics  of  bacteria  (ubiquity),  sterility  and  contamina=on  

•  Surprisingly  adept  with  cell  cultures  (CHO-­‐K)  •  Able  to  develop  asep=c  techniques  quickly  •  Successful  ac=vi=es  included:  – All  but  the  bea=ng  cells  

•   Added  a  tour  of  the  Wake  Forest  Ins=tute  for  Regenera=ve  Medicine  – Mega  hit  with  the  students  

Our  first  partner  high  school:  Lincoln  

Ques=ons?