City of Hope is proud to be part of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) Creativity Awards program. The CIRM Creativity Awards support summer internship programs that introduce high school students to stem cell science and developmental biology research, expose them to leading-edge medical research, foster their creativity and promote stem cell education and awareness among them. The Creativity Awards program is also intended to educate and broaden the participation in stem cell research by young individuals representing the diversity of California’s population, including those hindered by economic constraints. In order to foster creative thinking and approaches, the program will encourage participation by students who have a strong interest in both science and in a second creative discipline. We encourage students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds to participate in this program.
In 2012, the CIRM Creativity Awards program at City of Hope included:
- Lectures focusing on therapeutic implementation of stem cells, and ethics of stem cell research
- Lectures on the “Art in Science”
- Three field trips for the students to expose them to Los Angeles resources: (a) Natural History Museum, (b) Griffith Observatory and (c) Owl Biomedical (a local biotechnology company)
- Workshops on drug marketing and enhancing your creativity
- A trip to the annual CIRM Creativity Awards Poster Day at Stanford
- A music parody song and video to “Brokenhearted” by Karmin (click here)
- A flashmob in the City of Hope library (click here)
Apply for the 2013 CIRM Creativity Awards Program
To apply for the CIRM Creativity program, you must be a California high school student. Fill out the online summer student application and check "yes" to “are you interested in a special program for Stem Cell Research” to indicate your desire to be considered for the CIRM Creativity program.
2012 CIRM Creativity Students
Adam He, a junior at Shanghai Community International School, China, was mentored by Karen Aboody, Ph.D., in the Department of Neurosciences. His research project was working with a fibrin matrix for delivering therapeutic stem cells. He also represented the program at the CIRM Creativity Awards Poster Day by giving an oral presentation.
Jessica Hsueh, a senior at Gabrielino High School in San Gabriel, Calif., was mentored by Ravi Bhatia, M.D., in the Division of Hematopoietic Stem Cell and Leukemia Research. Her research involved investigating the effects of inhibitors on the JAK2 Gene in leukemia stem cell lines. She is now a freshman at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Riana Lo Bu, a senior at Flintridge Prepatory in La Caňada Flintridge, Calif., was mentored by Yanhong Shi, Ph.D., in the Department of Neurosciences. Her project focused on characterizing Oct-4 activating small molecule compounds in reprogramming mouse fibroblasts to induced pluripotent stem cells. She is now a freshman at MIT.
Jennifer Ly, a senior at Oxford Academy in Cypress, Calif., was mentored by Yanhong Shi, Ph.D., in the Department of Neurosciences. Her research was studying how miR-9 regulates glioblastoma stem cell proliferation and self-renewal. She is now a freshman at UCLA.
Jackie Olive, a junior at Polytechnic School in Pasadena, Calif., was mentored by John Rossi, M.D., the Lidow Family Research Chair, in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology. Her project was divided into two sections. The first was studying microRNAs delivered by polyamidoamine dendrimers. The second part (using methodology from the first) was how to moderate cardiac differentiation in mouse embryonic stem cells. Olive sang on the music parody.
Juhee Shah, a junior at Gretchen A. Witney High School in Cerritos, Calif., was mentored by Ivan Todorov, Ph.D., in the Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism. Her research involved searching for cell surface markers to identify progenitor/stem cells in the human pancreas. Shah participated in the flashmob and is one of the three original dancers.
Yujiao Sun, a junior at Arcadia High School in California, was mentored by Ren-Jang Lin, Ph.D., in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology. Her project involved using site-specific-nuclease to introduce spliceosomal mutations in stem cells to study myelodysplastic syndromes.
Emily Sun, a sophomore at Arcadia High School in California, was mentored by Robert Hickey, Ph.D., in the Department of Radiation Biology. Her research involved the proteomic analysis of glioblastoma stem cells.
