Nearly 150 students from Los Angeles-area schools got a chance to learn the intricacies of brain surgery and other medical techniques during Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s Brainworks event Monday.
The students interacted with an experimental system that makes brain tumors glow within normal tissue. The tumor can be seen through a special camera that uses a laser, a synthetic version of a protein found in the venom of a scorpion and an imaging agent called “Tumor Paint BLZ-100.”
The yearly event is aimed at giving the seventh- and eighth-graders the chance to explore the possibility of a career in medicine or science, said Dr. Keith Black, chairman of the Cedars-Sinai Department of Neurosurgery.
“I think that like all students, they don’t know what to expect when they come,” Black said, adding that the teens get to work with sheep brains, look into a surgical microscope and conduct a simulated surgery to remove a brain tumor.
The kids — from the Dr. Betty Shabazz Delta Academy, School on Wheels, St. Francis of Assisi School and the James A. Foshay Learning Center — also got the chance to learn what it is like to help patients recover from illness or injury through rehabilitation.
They are selected by teachers based on their interest in science.
