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High school students from Denmark, the Netherlands, and Victoria, Australia participated in reNEW’s UniStem Day 2025 events, which were designed to offer students a chance to explore, learn, and discuss the transformative potential of stem cell research in medicine.
On Friday 14 March, students who took part in reNEW’s events joined over 30,000 students worldwide for a UniStem event. This is the 17th year of the world’s largest international science communication event aimed at high school students.
Raising awareness of stem cells and their incredible potential towards the learning community is a key focus for reNEW which is why we are happy to be support the UniStem Day,” said reNEWS’s CEO Melissa H. Little.
At the core of reNEW Melbourne’s UniStem Day 2025 was its focus on offering hands-on learning opportunities. XXX high school students from across Victoria, Australia, traveled to the Gene Technology Access Centre in Parkville to explore how stem cells are used to study cancer.
The students had the chance to meet with early-career reNEW Melbourne researchers from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute to gain insights into various scientific careers and the role of stem cells in research. They also participated in activities such as loading a gel electrophoresis, identifying markers on cancer cells, and matching blood types. Additionally, the students engaged in science communication through art and reflected on the ethical considerations involved in cell donation for medical research.
“I was able to learn about valuable pathways and personal experiences of the scientists, which was nice to hear about the different ways people go towards their careers” said on high school student.
“My biggest takeaway was the benefits of stem cell research and why it’s so important in scientific breakthroughs,” said another.
The central question of UniStem Day 2025 in Leiden was: Is stem cell research also your future? With a perfect mix of plenary sessions, interactive exercises and lab tours, the high school students got a glimpse of the diverse world that stem cell research is. Our main message: whether you like biology, computer science, technology, math, health care or even art, there are tons of ways to contribute to the field of stem cell research.
We had the aim to inspire, show what you can do with stem cells and that it’s much broader than most might think. And we were excited to hear the impact it already had on the students and their career choices: ‘I know that I don’t want to be working in a lab fulltime, but I do think stem cell research is really interesting’ and “This day interested me for stem cell research, the coolest thing I’ve learned is that you can use stem cells for SO MANY things!”. We hope to welcome many of them to reNEW in a couple of years!
High school students were welcomed at the University of Copenhagen by reNEW Copenhagen researchers. The program included presentations from both group leaders as early career researchers. Topics that emerged were around our stem cell research.
The UniStem Day has over the years turned into the largest educational outreach initiative on stem cells and regenerative medicine in Europe, with some non-European countries also taking part in this promotion effort. This was the third time that the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine, reNEW took part in this engagement event. We want to thank all our speakers and others that contributed to this global event and helped us making this possible!
