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Volume 8, Issue 1
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1 Stem Cells

Picture the life of a stem cell that is about to be studied.
Imagine being ripped from your home, poked, prodded, zapped with electricity, bombarded with chemicals, and finally, injected into a foreign environment. How would the stem cell feel? What is the most probable outcome from such handling of a stem cell? Either the stem cell dies or differentiates. In any case, the cell is no longer a stem cell. The finicky nature of stem cells makes them difficult to study. To conclusively identify a stem cell, researchers must be able to demonstrate that a single cell possesses two key attributes: first, the ability to differentiate into a more specialized cell; second, the ability to self-renew. Because stem cells tend to lose their stem cell capabilities as soon as they leave their original, native environments, demonstrating the second attribute has proved nearly impossible for most types of stem cells. 		Chelsea Young 221
2 Surgery In The Field

“Saying ‘blood clot’ is not taught in most French classes,” said Professor Sherry Wren.Wren, a Professor of Surgery and Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs at the Stanford University School of Medicine, has spent three summers working with Doctors Without Borders in Africa. She learned how to say blood clot in French on her most recent mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “The nurse was trying to tell me that the patient had passed a clot, which I didn’t understand, so he had to flip through the dictionary until he found the word which turned out to be caillot,” Wren said. “This patient’s blood pressure was just crashing. You’re in the OR, the ‘blood bank’ is all the people in the hospital and I finally realized she [the patient] had all these blood clots between her legs, and I thought oh my god, this woman’s going to die. The blood technician came in, tested her blood type right then and there. Three o’clock in the morning I performed an emergency hysterectomy on her...She was fine.” 		Rachel Becker 223
3 Pope Wears Prada

It’s true. Pope Benedict XVI has been spotted to sport red Prada loafers under his flowing cassock robe. But is it surprising? Uzma Khan, Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Stanford Business School, would argue otherwise. In her research, she finds that people who perform virtuous or altruistic deeds are less likely to feel guilty by self-indulging afterwards. Taking a few snapshots of people’s brains can also help reveal why. Brian Knutson, Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Stanford, does it all the time. He uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI scans) to observe and predict the decisions of individual consumers – just by looking at pictures of their brains. Most shoppers are motivated by the usual host of considerations when they buy. Factors such as price of product, variety of the stock, or what others may like are some of the conscious thoughts that stream through people’s minds as they decide whether or not to buy. However, humans are not always rational actors, and may even be oblivious to their subliminal thoughts. We can see this in fMRI scans of their brains. “When people shop, we see activity in parts of their brains that we also see in the brains of foraging rats,” explains Professor Knutson, “There’s some old machinery being applied to a new activity [shopping].” 		Shinjini Kundu 227
4 RAMPART Seizure Study

A mother holds her child’s shoulder helplessly as he shakes uncontrollably on the grass. The child is in Status Epilepticus—his brain’s neurons are generating a storm of electrical signals, causing a prolonged seizure that will not stop without medical intervention. The ambulance arrives, and the paramedics administer medicine that quells the seizure. Although long-lasting seizures are often fatal, this child’s life is saved. Seizures arise from disturbances to the electrical connectivity or activity of the brain, which arise from a variety of factors including epilepsy, drugs, tumors, stroke, and injury. Regardless of the cause, the shorter a seizure lasts, the better a person’s chances for recovery. “You want to stop a seizure as soon as you can,” says James Quinn, MD, Associate Professor and Research Director in Emergency Medicine at Stanford Medical School. “Paramedics now stop them with medications in the field, but there’s a big variation in practice about what medications to use.” 		Vivek Athalye 222
5 Cystic Fibrosis

As far as genetic diseases go, Cystic Fibrosis is complicated.
Affecting multiple organ systems, Cystic Fibrosis can originate from any combination of over 1000 possible mutations of a single gene. The task of finding a cure for such a disease is understandably daunting, but despite the seemingly bleak outlook, there are many researchers devoted to the case. Cystic Fibrosis, abbreviated CF, is a genetic disorder that causes dysfunction in glands producing mucus, saliva and sweat. As a result, it is commonly manifested along either respiratory or gastrointestinal epithelia. The most common inherited autosomal recessive disease in the United States, its prevalence in the American population has stimulated much laboratory and clinical investigation. Stanford Hospital is home to the largest CF center in California. Clinical studies conducted here often involve large teams of doctors, researchers and both adult and pediatric patients. Without well-orchestrated coordination between these three groups, clinical research might be impossible to conduct. The ability to observe and speak with some of the many different players allows for a unique perspective on CF research at Stanford. 		Megha Makam 464
6 Everyone Counts

According to a 2007 report by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, “16,119 species of animals and plants are threatened with extinction and many ecosystems – wetlands, forests – are being degraded and destroyed.”The consequences of humanity’s presence on Earth have increased in the past decade. Issues such as global warming, the collapse of fisheries, declining air quality and increasing water scarcity are coming to the fore in discussions held by political and public agencies around the globe.One of the most pressing concerns lies in the loss of biodiversity. “Biodiversity” encompasses all living things and their interactions with each other in a particular ecosystem. The study of biodiversity looks at the origins, maintenance and loss of many dimensions of diversity extending from genes to ecosystems. It is crucial that we come to understand the many facets and influences of biodiversity in order to better understand the forces that threaten to destabilize the very foundations of human survival. 		Suzanne Bartram 234