In MYP science
we are currently inquiring on cells and its
application to real – life. During the course of our inquiry we
encountered stem cell which has become our research topic and how stem cells
can be used to cure various diseases. To get the first-hand information which
is our primary resource we had a special session with Doctor Paramjit Dhot who
serves as a Medical Director of Life Cell International Private Limited. Dr.
Dhot is an eminent and renowned Pathologist, Haematologist and Transfusion Medicine
Specialist with over 10 years of executive experience. Dr. Dhot also played a
prominent role in setting up India’s first Haematopoietic Stem Cell Bank. He
specializes in stem cell therapy, blood banking and transfusion medicine and
bone marrow transplantation
The topic of the session was Stem Cells and
its application.
We were taken
through an interactive presentation on stem cells-what is a stem cell,
collection of cord blood, storage of stem cell. It came as a big surprise when
Dr. Dhot brought out real blood and plasma to show us!
Dr. Dhot told us
that the two most important things when preserving stem cells were: the
chemical mixed into the plasma is called Dimethyl Sulphoxide (or DMSO for
short), and that they cool the stem cells in Liquid Nitrogen until they are
-196°C cold. Sounds very scientific and complicated isn’t it? That’s just a bit
of the science of it all and it was something we all loved and found so
interesting.
This interaction
was very helpful and all of us Sixth Graders understood so much more than what
a textbook alone could share. I, personally, think that this was a very
interesting session, and I would like to thank all the teachers who arranged it
and to Doctor Paramjit Dhot for taking time out of his busy schedule to share his
learning with us.
