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| Yi Yu, a research assistant at the Melton lab at Harvard with flasks containing human embryonic stem cells -- Photo |
The photo essay was prepared by Chloé Hecketsweiler, a Paris-based journalist with Le Monde. She recorded events and people during six weeks this year in the laboratory of Douglas Melton at the Harvard Stem cell Institute.
Melton is digging into diabetes. A firm he co-founded, Semma Therapeutics, is the recipient of a $5 million award from the California stem cell agency, formally known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
About Melton's lab, Hecketsweiler wrote,
"I watched their experiments, learned about the complex science of stem cells, and talked with the researchers about their work and hopes. I was allowed to take pictures, and for this photo essay I tried to pick out moments and details that I found revealing, although scientists may see them as business as usual."Her photos are first-rate, her reporting personal and the presentation strong. One member of Melton's team, Maria Keramari, told her,
"You have to keep the cells happy before you keep yourself happy."It echoed an axiom from America's old family farming days when livestock was fed and cared for as the sun rose, long before before the family sat down for breakfast.
Another Melton researcher, Ornella Barrandon, said,
"We spend so much time on our projects, they are like our babies."Hecketsweiler's work tells a science story in a way not regularly seen. It is a good example of making stem cell research accessible to a wide audience and leaving them wanting more.
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