Kayla Patel

Stem Cells 101

Fellow lovers of science, welcome to my capstone! My project serves as an introduction to what stem cells are, what they can be used for, and why they are important. You can watch my final product at left.

I've always been a STEM person, participating in everything from Oncology Olympiad (me and my teammates are in the second photo!) to Biology Club. I've taken as many science classes as possible and attended science programs every summer I could, so it's no surprise that my capstone circled back to science too. However, the big question I've always asked is how can science be used to do more for the human race? I wanted to use my capstone to explore that question.

The inspiration for this project came from a summer program I attended at Harvard University before eleventh grade. I was in a class about regenerative medicine. I loved learning about stem cells and their potential applications to real world situations (and I loved my classmates too - they're in the picture above). The best part of that experience was doing a research project with my friend Julia Jamieson (to my left in the picture) on the potential application of stem cell research to family planning. Those experiences made me realize that not many people know about the possibilities that exist for stem cell research or about stem cells in general, something I wanted to change through my capstone.

RESEARCH AND THE EARLY CAPSTONE PROCESS

Julia and I created a presentation and research proposal together for our program, but I started with the basics for capstone research. I started out by researching what stem cells were, their applications, and current research being done. I attended a symposium held by the University of Pennsylvania (see the poster at right) to get a better idea of what scientists are working on now, using both physical print copies of scientific literature and Google Docs to keep track of my resources and notes.

Early brainstorming with Mr. Newman
iPSCs into gametes
Julia and my Harvard presentation on using stem cells for family planning

My original focus was extremely broad (as seen by my extensive topics list below); there are SO many things to cover! I eventually narrowed in to actual research, bioethics, and legal policies, looking at news articles, PubMed, the New England Journal of Medicine, and science magazines and publications.

The poster for the Penn symposium
Click on the image to see some of the literature I read as research!

THE CAPSTONE EXPERIENCE ft. COVID-19

My project underwent some significant changes from start to finish. Originally, I had planned to create a lesson on stem cell research and the ethics surrounding it , including interactive activities, to teach to an MFS Upper School class; I would survey the students on their stem cell knowledge before and after However, due to the uncertainty of our learning structure going into senior year, I switched to a fully virtual project in the form of video modules. This required additional work on finding a suitable video format - I looked at Loom, Adobe, and iMovie, eventually settling on the easy-to-use but high-quality iMovie to make my video(s).

A snapshot of my capstone rubric; things highlighted in green were affected by COVID-19 and required some rethinking
Video concepts
My full list of video concepts - this got significantly narrowed down, and I chose to create one "episode". I'm hopeful that I can create more in the future!

I faced challenges in trying to make my final product more engaging for learners - I didn't want to be lecturing viewers and have a boring final product. I watched YouTube videos like Flipped videos from my AP Psychology class and the various Crash Course series in order to find that balance between informative and fun and also looked at interesting visual techniques, settling on a combination of interacting with the camera and stop-motion whiteboarding. I also had to significantly narrow my focus topic, in part due to the complexities of the issues and the limits on my method of teaching. I ended up creating a "stem cells 101" video, about 7 minutes long, purely on what stem cells are, stem cell types, and other scientific concepts like cell potency; my ultimate goal became stem cell education.

Some of my best whiteboards
IMG_8402.MOV
A clip of myself talking about teratomas

STEP BY STEP

Whiteboarding was one of the major parts of my project's final video; although time-consuming, it was fun to come up with drawings and ideas (like the "stem cell umbrella" and "potency pyramid") to help get my point across in a creative, easier-to-understand way. I also wrote out a script and went through several color-coded drafts to get my point across effectively. Once the script was written, I recorded myself on camera (lots of memorization involved) and on recordings. Eventually, the whiteboards were combined with videos and overlaid with the audio for the end product - a ton of drawing, recording, and editing, but definitely worth it.

FUTURE GOALS

This project - my video - is just the beginning. Now that I've come up with a way to explain what stem cells are, I can create similar videos to explain other concepts that I researched, like bioethics, science-based public policy, the intersections between science and social justice, and family planning using stem cells. Science is often seen as difficult or hard to understand, and I want to change that mindset through educational tools. These videos are meant to educate a wide audience, especially middle/high schoolers, but science is for everyone. Perhaps through platforms like YouTube or Instagram I could post these videos for the public and continue to educate people about science in all its forms. I might even end up expanding on this project's at the university level.

The Future of Family Planning?
A (very) rough draft of a potential "future of family planning" video script

SHOULD I DO A CAPSTONE?

For anyone who is considering a capstone, this is what I have to say: capstones are hard. They require a lot of hard work, dedication, and passion. If you are truly in love with something and are willing to research it for months on end, a capstone is worth the effort and energy. In the end, you will be so proud of your final product and of yourself because a capstone allows you to push yourself academically. Should you choose to do a capstone, pick a topic you can throw yourself into and commit yourself to. Start your research early and communicate with your advisor as much as possible because your advisor is a resource too! Realistically look at your availability - capstone can take up hours upon hours of your week, as it should. This can be a memorable experience.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This capstone project has been over a year in the making, if I properly think about it. Firstly, I want to thank my classmates from that summer program for being supportive then and now, especially my dear friend Julia for letting me use some of our ideas for this project. Thank you to Mr. Newman for being my advisor and providing insightful advice when I needed it - this project would not be in the place it is without your help. Thank you to my MFS friends for the late-night capstone work sessions and keeping me sane. Lastly, thank you to my family: to my mom, for encouraging me to read and learn about everything (and for making sure I ate and slept); to my dad, for the scientific discussions; to my Nana, for the help with research; to my Nani for checking in on me; and to my sister, for putting up with my crazy rants about stem cells. I love you all so much.

Thank you for taking time to look at my capstone! Contact me at patelkayla6@gmail.com with any questions :)