Window on Whitehead: Holidays in the lab

When 100 teenagers flocked into Whitehead for our three-day high school student spring program, here’s what we learned:

1. These students are indeed truly interested in biomedical research, enough to arrive here at 9 a.m. (way early on school vacation week!) and to pay attention through talks that on occasion may get quite tricky.
2. Students said they particularly enjoyed their hands-on experiences in labs at Whitehead (see below) and several nearby biomedical research institutions.
3. Like our other outreach programs, this depends entirely on the time and energy invested by principal investigators, young researchers and teachers. Special thanks also go to Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Biogen Idec Foundation for their generous help in funding our public programs.
4. This year’s topic was “Cell Wars: The Battle Between Infectious Agents and Their Hosts.” The never-ending battle isn’t going all that well on certain fronts, and some students sat up much straighter when Whitehead Member Gerald Fink voiced the hope that their generation will do better.

Top, Christopher Lengner of Rudolf Jaenisch’s lab provides a look at mouse embryonic stem cells. Bottom, students practice chopping planarian flatworms under the guidance of Danielle Wenemoser of the Peter Reddien lab. Photos: Justin Knight