What if we could build bones using stem cells and gene therapy?

Suitable for 14-19-year olds (secondary and high schools, and college), this article and accompanying activity sheet can be used in the classroom, STEM/science clubs and at home.

This resource links to KS4 and KS5 Biology and is also internationally relevant.

It can also be used as a careers resource and links to Gatsby Benchmarks:
Gatsby Benchmark 2: Learning from career and labour market information
Gatsby Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers

• “Our bones are extremely important, not just for supporting our body and protecting our internal organs, but also as a reservoir of minerals and other substances involved in metabolism,” says Dr Pascale V Guillot. This teaching resource explains the work of Pascale from the University College London in the UK. Pascale is leading a team of cell biologists who are using human stem cells to grow both healthy and brittle bone tissue in the lab. Why? So they can investigate the causes of a brittle bone disease called osteogenesis imperfecta and develop innovative treatments to make bones stronger.

• This resource also contains an interview with Pascale about her career path. If your students (or you) have questions for Pascale, you/they can send them to Pascale online. All you need to do is to go to the article online (see the Futurum link below), scroll down to the end and type in the question(s). Pascale will reply!

• The activity sheet provides ‘talking points’ (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) to prompt students to reflect on Pascale’s research and challenges them to think about the impact of cell biology and gene therapy.

This resource was first published on Futurum Careers, a free online resource and magazine aimed at encouraging 14-19-year-olds worldwide to pursue careers in science, tech, engineering, maths, medicine (STEM) and social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy (SHAPE).

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