I have a confession: I am a complete science nerd.

I embrace the label with pride. So as the school year ended, my teacher friends packed up their rooms for the summer and chattered about trips to the beach and mountains or just staying home to relax. In contrast, I am excitedly talking about my “vacation” to the world of science at Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM).

WFIRM, a research facility in Winston-Salem, NC, is housed in one of many new and repurposed structures of Wake Forest’s Innovation Quarter. Reading their website, you learn they are an “international leader in regenerative medicine.” Their “interdisciplinary team is working to engineer more than 30 different replacement tissues and organs and to develop healing cell therapies — all with the goal to cure, rather than merely treat, disease.” Through NC New Schools’ teacher externship opportunities, I’ll be spending two weeks there — what better way to spend the summer for an avowed science nerd?!

This week, I briefly discarded my teacher mantle and stepped into the role of student and observer. It began with a somewhat daunting flood of background information that challenged my breadth of knowledge. I read and reread the articles, highlighted text and scribbled in the margins. Sometimes I referred to Wikipedia for explanations. (I hope my students don’t read this confession!) I often finished with more questions than when I began. I hoped for clarity when I stepped onto campus.

The real adventure started on Tuesday when I arrived. Dr. Benjamin Harrison gave Terry Howerton and me an introduction to the scope and mission at WFIRM. Dr. Harrison explained that the scientists at WFIRM were the first to grow an organ in the lab and successfully implant it into a patient! We all know about the difficulties faced by those who need organ transplants; the need far outweighs the supply. WFIRM scientists seek to ameliorate that problem by growing organs in a lab. Off-the-shelf kidneys or other complex organs are far in the future, but WFIRM is on the path leading in that direction. Absolutely amazing!

Dr. Harrison emphasized that much of the success at WFIRM lies in how it brings together scientists of different backgrounds and provides a collaborative and supportive environment for them to work. Building tissues and organs may require input from chemists, engineers, physicians, biochemists, veterinarians and cell biologists. Each person has some area of expertise and experience they bring to the project that leads to success.

I have more experiences to share in a later blog post. For now I want to reflect on that first day. I saw the power of collaborative group work that we are trying to teach our students. No one person has all the knowledge and skills to solve a complex problem such as regenerating tissues and organs. But amazing things happen when people work together to reach a common goal.

Click here to read Melanie’s second post about this externship.