Hi! I'm the student lab manager of UW-Madison's “Sharing in the Discovery” Stem Cell Learning Lab is made possible on campus by the Ira and Ineva Reilly Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment. Our campus lab is an outreach partnership among the UW-Madison Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine Center, Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, UW-Madison Biotechnology Center, and WiCell Research Institute.

 Through this hands-on experience, learners use the same equipment and methods stem cell researchers use to prepare and grow their cells. We use an organic stem cell substitute in our public lab due to biosafety restrictions; but our collaborating scientists tell us our experience is a great simulation of the real thing! In addition, after thawing, rinsing, centrifuging and feeding their cells, participants will have the chance to view real stem cells from stem cell pioneer Dr. James Thomson's lab under the microscope.

 There is plenty of time for questions and related activities as the group's schedule allows. Workshops are available Mondays-Fridays by appointment. This lab can be done alone or done in conjunction with other outreach opportunities available. We have previously had groups as young as 10 and as old as 80. We are hoping to reach out to MMSD, especially, due to our lab's location in the Biotechnology Center at UW-Madison. As you know, WiCell runs a highly successful stem cell outreach program, including summer science camp. This is yet another, newer program on campus to hep bring the lab experience to even more students. We have had positive feedback from high school and middle school teachers and are happy to share this feedback.

Through our growing programs, we hope to increase student and teacher knowledge of stem cells and regenerative medicine, both the science and socio-political issues related to the field. Our UW-Madison and WiCell stem cell outreach labs are among the very few in the country and continue to place Madison at the forefront of stem cell research education and science education overall. We hope schools will be able to take advantage of our many great opportunities and provide more of these unique experience to our area’s students. This is the second year our learning lab has been running but we have already had alot of success and am hoping to reach out to even more schools in the area! 

If you would like more information about the learning lab please visit http://www.biotech.wisc.edu/outreach/sharing.html. 

mrosenkranz@wisc.edu