Day in the Life of a Molecular Biology Student

What is it like to take a 400-level lecture class in Molecular Biology?

My experience taking "Stem Cell Biology" was challenging, but rewarding! In addition to learning about how stem cells work, I learned how to effectively collaborate and do presentations on a virtual learning setting.

The topic of stem cell research has always been fascinating to me, but I came into class knowing very little. People often talk about them like they're magic, as if they can keep us forever young and allow us to miraculously grow an entire organisms on a Petri dish. The truth is that they're much more complicated than that. In this class, we learned about the history, current research, and ethics of stem cell biology.

"A stem cell is an undifferentiated cell that are capable of self-renewal and have the potential to develop into specialized cells types."

Stem cells can do amazing things. Scientists first learned about them using model organisms, such as planarians, fruit flies, and nematodes. They found that stem cells can regenerate parts of a body.

I created this quick figure using a free online software called BioRender. It's awesome!

After studying stem cells in model organisms for many years, one successful example of stem cell therapy on humans was performed in 2017. A boy who suffering from a lethal skin disease called JEB received stem cell therapy to regenerate his skin [article]. The therapy was done on "compassionate use" because the disease posed a lethal threat. In the end, the boy's skin was successfully generated, and the use of stem cell therapy was able to save his life.

What does this all mean?

Our class concluded with an ethics discussion on what the progress of stem cell research means to society. Is it ethical to genetically modify animals for the benefit of humans? How does it re-define the definition of human-ness? How does it perpetuate certain conceptions of what is desirable and what is not? While there are no definite answers yet, it remains a topic to be discussed further.

HIGHLIGHTS:

I learned how to collaborate on a virtual learning setting.

Each day, we read scientific literature and each group presents some figures on Zoom. Because of how heavy it is on group work, my group and I wanted a structured way to collaborate online: Google Drive. We would meet on Zoom almost each night and work on Google Docs together to prepare for the presentation next day.

I learned to think independently as a Molecular Biologist.

Each week, we wrote proposals on experimental designs using the methods and concepts we've learned in class discussion. We would also go to office hours for help on our proposal rationale. This was definitely a challenging yet rewarding assignments.

P.S.

One of my classmates showed me an anime that explores cells using animations! It's called Cells at Work. It's super cute and incorporates science concepts about cells into the animations!