This week we are featuring the best blogs from our SPARK (Summer Program to Accelerate Regenerative medicine Knowledge) students. SPARK gives high school students a chance to spend their summer working in a world class stem cell research facility here in California. In return they write about their experiences and what they learned.

The blog that won second place comes from Emily Bunnapradist who spent her summer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

When I was in the third grade, my mom took me to the allergy wing in the UCLA Medical Center, hoping to find answers to a number of issues that accompanied my seemingly never-ending list of food allergies: dairy, eggs, nuts, legumes, and so on. Unexpectedly, without even an appointment, clinician Dr. Braskett spent an hour out of her already busy schedule just talking us through our worries in the lobby, checking out skin problems that arose as a result of my allergies and promising to see us again as soon as she could. Because of her overwhelming kindness and generosity, my mom and I went home with relieved smiles and assurance that my health concerns were manageable.

That was the day that I decided that I wanted to pursue medicine, to make an impact on people the way that she had on my family and me. However, my conception of the field of healthcare was quite limited. For the majority of my life, I was convinced that the only way to make a true connection in a patient’s well-being was as a clinician.

This unfounded claim quickly changed when I was accepted into the CIRM SPARK program at Cedars-Sinai. In the most action-packed summer I have ever had the opportunity to experience, I was exposed to the diverse field of healthcare. Transitioning between the clinical and research aspects of science, I saw firsthand the direct effect that researchers had on patients in fields I had not even considered.

While touring the blood transfusion facility at Cedars-Sinai, a technician proudly boasted about her connection to patient care in labeling and testing blood donations to ensure they were suitable for those in need. Upon viewing the imaging core, the manager of the center informed us about the revolutionary advances his team was making in developing software to identify cancerous indicators in patients. In visiting the microbiology lab, multiple lab scientists informed us about the hundreds of tests they perform on a daily basis to detect diseases such as influenza and adenovirus, without which clinicians wouldn’t be able to perform their job to the fullest degree.

In these past weeks, I have spent hundreds of hours in the lab. From drawing on sections with hydrophobic markers to loading gels with protein samples, I have gained tremendous experience in navigating a research environment. However, although I now know the mechanics of Western blots and immunostaining like the back of my hand, the most essential takeaways for me are not learning the procedures but understanding their applications. While I am now able to pipette fluids with a steady hand and make buffer solutions without second-guessing my calculations, I am also able to appreciate the science behind each protein band and cell plate. Being able to contribute to my project and hear about my peers’ experiments has shown me the scope of influence research can have on extending knowledge and generating cures to diseases.

While I had initially considered research to be cold and isolating, I have found more warmth and connection here than I believed possible. The passion that my mentors possess for their line of work, as well as their endless knowledge on essentially any topic imaginable, has shown me the importance and integrity of what they do.

I could not be more grateful to have the guidance of Dr. Mehrnoosh Ghiam and Dr. Adam Poe, who I have formed strong relationships with and have helped me accomplish what I have this summer. Their mentorship, along with the resources of Cedars-Sinai, have granted me the most productive and exciting summer I’ve had yet!