STEM 1

In the first part of the year in our STEM class, we focus on our Independent Research Project in which we choose a topic of our interest to conduct the scientific method. This phase is very similar to your typical Science Fair preparation, and we even have a school science fair in February to select which projects will move onto WRSEF. STEM 1 is an excellent opportunity to gain mentorship from a highly experienced Ph.D, Dr. Crowthers, and move up the science fair levels.

Above is a quick summary of my Independent Research Project: Simulated Microgravity-Induced Stem Cell Formation from Differentiated Cells in P. patens. Microgravity, or gravity that is lower than Earth’s gravity, has the quality of causing physical changes in organisms and cells, which can be good or bad. In plants (and partly in animals), fully developed cells can de-differentiate, or revert, back to a past phase; the Stem Cell/multipotent phase. This project aims to see how this de-differentiation process works under microgravity (simulated by a random positioning machine) and whether microgravity causes any malignant changes.

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