Week 2

Cluster 8: Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine

Day 8 (Sunday): Sunday was a day of relaxation and reset for the new week at COSMOS! We had the chance to sleep in a bit with a later breakfast time, followed by some much-needed inside time until lunch. The rest of the day followed with programs such as visiting the Geisel Library, water balloon activities, and basketball! We ended our day with Camp COSMOS, where there was an intense and exhilarating flag football tournament between our different Hogwarts houses. It was a night full of competitiveness, team-spirit, and laughter!

Day 9 (Monday): We are back to our rigorous classes, starting off with our last lecture from Dr. Gaetani. We learned about the different types of biomaterials and its applications in tissue engineering, as well as its benefits. Following the lecture, we shared our lab results and answers from last Thursday to the rest of the class and learned a bit about our lab for today. For the lab, we worked with microscopes for the first time, using different programs such as Amscope and Fiji. It was quite chaotic as we all scrambled to learn how to use the different applications and equipment all while simultaneously completing 3 labs, but our groups did it! Now, we have learned how to count cells under the microscope using a hemocytometer. 


Here's the link to a microscope reactions video from one of our groups: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zdzP0DsyMlITIPMZ9cDQfG86j4W_nPMG/view?usp=drivesdk 


Our afternoon programs consisted of karaoke, ceramics, an evening run, and basketball. Everyone had a great time!

Day 10 (Tuesday): Our first class of the day included a Discovery Lecture zoom meeting where Dr. Ben Smarr taught us about “using tech to see nature and help people.” As the first Discovery Lecture of the program, it was quite exciting to learn something in addition to our cluster coursework. Then, continuing our lab on cell counting with a hemocytometer, we broke off into our lab groups to finish counting and computing our calculations. Following lunch, the labs for today were cell passaging and microscopy. We got to work in the BSC once again, passaging our cells before looking at them in the microscope and plating them. It was hard work, but definitely super fun and rewarding. 


Tuesday was extra special because our cluster once again had the opportunity to go to STARBUCKS during lunch!! We were all ecstatic! Following dinner in the evening, some of the programs our cluster members took part in were an evening run, watching the sunset on the Keeling rooftop, board games, and a volleyball tournament.

Day 11 (Wednesday): Today is dedicated to our ethics essay! We started off with our Science Communications class where we watched a video on Gilead, the company we will be visiting on Friday. Then, we had the opportunity to quickly start or continue our ethics essay for peer review and feedback from Ms. Garcia. But before we could get too burnt out, we played a fun and chaotic game of telephone pictionary, getting back to work shortly after! 


Although, Dr. Gaetani’s lectures are over, he’s still making appearances during class time for insightful demonstrations and presentations! Our cluster is always happy to see him, especially today as he presented his paper on the isolation and expansion of adult cardiac progenitor/stem cells. 

Day 12 (Thursday): Beginning with a special Alumni Panel, Cluster 8 students were able to listen to the stories of past COSMOS students and their experiences! It was cool to hear about where COSMOS took them and how it impacted their academic lives. After the Alumni Panel, we also continued to work on our ethics essays until Dr. Gaetani and Dr. Sah arrived. We reviewed all of our notes from the past lectures as we begin to prepare our selections for the final project! As for lab time today, the groups split up again and while half completed the cell passaging lab, the others started their microscopy labs. 

Day 13 (Friday): On Friday night, everyone at COSMOS spent the evening at the Sun God Lawn. We grabbed our blankets and canvases, and we painted the night away as we watched the sunset together!

Cluster 8's Cozy Food Corner

As we reach our second week here at Cosmos we continue to conquer our local dining hall, Canyon Vista. On Saturday, our tongues were blessed as poke was one of the options in the salad bar. We unanimously rated it an 11/10.  We were also able to try more of the forever rotating items at the Fusion grill.  The new additions and revised ratings are in red. 

Breakfast

Pancakes: 6.5/10

Triton Blend: 8/10

Hash brown: 9/10

Basil Toast: 5/10

Eggs: 5/10

Croissant: 3/10 

Cereal: 8/10

Avocado Toast: 5/10

Special (Outside Dinning Hall)

Dough Mama: 10/10

Lunch (Fusion Grill)

Carne asada fries: 7/10

Burger: 6/10

Tostadas and enchiladas: 8/10

Moco Loco: 5/10

Grilled Cheese: 10/10 

Chicken Tender: 7/10

Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese: 9/10

Dinner (360 Grill)

Steak: 5.5/10

Green Bean Salad: 5/10

Shrimp: 7/10 

Spring Rolls: 8/10

Mixed Vegetables: 5/10

Mashed Potatoes: 8/10

Tuna Poke: 11/10

Tofu: 6.5/10

Garlic Bread: 6/10

Salmon: 7/10

Bulgogi: 5/10

Alfredo Mushrooms Pasta: 7/10

Tri-tip: 6/10 (depends on what slice you get)

Mac and Cheese: 7/10

Dessert

Blue Ribbon Ice Cream: 4/10

Lime Ice Cream: 4/10

Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream: 9.5/10

Bubble Gum Popsicle: 2/10

Strawberry Popsicle: 2/10

Cluster 8's Sleeping Section Special: 

A Perfection Representation of the Typical Cluster 8 Student

Cluster 8 Newsletter Team!

Res Life Writer: Louiza Zughbaba

Res Life Photographer: Emery Domingo

Cluster Photographer: Autumn Cho, Aaron Dumas

Cluster Writer: Sophie Boeun