At the UC Davis Stem Cell Program, the CIRM SPARK Program fits well with our intention to educate the future stem cell scientists of California. The CIRM SPARK Program is an internship program for high school students, based on the previous CIRM CREATIVITY Program. It allows for the interns to work side by side with noted researchers in cutting edge stem cell research facilities; it is motivating, stimulating, and may also be life changing for young people. Based on our previous successful summer internship program, 10 highly interested and also talented students from Northern California high schools were selected from the winners of the UC Davis Biotech Challenge Program. The students had to create a website featuring and discussing cutting edge science in the biomedical field, and present their work at the SPARK conference, a scientific meeting of all CIRM SPARK students, their program directors and CIRM officers. Ten winners of the Biotech Challenge Program were selected and paired up with individual scientist mentors from the UC Davis Stem Cell Program (we have 25 laboratories the students could choose from) and took on projects involving the development of cutting edge stem cell treatments for cardio-vascular disease, diseases that affect the brain, liver, or kidney, bone disease, skin disease, eye disease, and other devastating inherited diseases. The summer project was structured so the students could complete a research project within the allowed time-frame and then generate a poster for the CIRM SPARK conference, this time held at UC Davis, in August of 2018. In order for our interns to receive formal training in stem cell biology, they participated in a class called “Stem Cell Biology and Manufacturing Practices” taught over the summer by the PI of this grant. This class also called for hands on training in Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) (the production of clinical grade materials for stem cell trials) inside the CIRM funded UC Davis Good Manufacturing Practice facility. The students took two written exams and one practical exam, including an exam inside the GMP facility. They all earned a training certificate, which they truly deserved, as all of the student interns passed their theoretical and practical exams. The individual mentors and the PI supervised the students in creating their research posters, and also selected one student speaker who presented the summer research project in an oral presentation during the SPARK conference. Additionally, all students presented their posters in front of their peers, CIRM officers and noted researchers during the SPARK conference at UC Davis. All of our summer interns also participated in a second activity, a clinical activity. The students heard lectures from noted UC Davis clinicians, telling them about the pathology and the impact of incurable diseases such Huntington’s disease, and other inherited diseases, and visited a UC Davis student run clinic. The presentation on Huntington’s disease had a huge impact on the students, as they realized that treatments for such devastating neurological diseases are urgently needed, and stem cell therapies, which are currently being developed at UC Davis for this disease, may be a first step toward providing a glimpse of hope for the patients. The PI then took the students to see the Paul Hom Asian clinic. UC Davis has a number of student run clinics, the Paul Hom Asian Clinic is among the busiest. This clinic provides free medical services to the Asian community, however, many non Asian patients also frequent this clinic, due to its unique atmosphere and highly competent and compassionate staff. Through this visit, the students were exposed to the real world health care situation that patients, particularly without insurance, are facing and were very much moved by the compassion and excellent care provided, without discrimination or bias, by this student run clinic. As last year, the clinic visit had an enormous and lasting impact on the students. In summary, the internship program very much inspired the young people who spent their summer with us; this is also underlined by many interns expressing their desire to continue their education in the biological / biotech field and their desire to work toward the development of new treatments and cures for currently incurable diseases. Excellent researchers and highly skilled biotechnology laboratory personnel will be needed in the near and extended future to produce novel stem cell treatments in California and to move them into the clinic. The young people that interned with us during the summer are the future of California’s health and economy.