DART

Bundled-up students file into the Paul Ebling Symposium Center with wind-burnt red
cheeks and noses, brushing off the snow before finding a seat among the crowd. The
auditorium is loud with chatter - mostly about the blizzard they had all just braved to
make it to this special event. The lights
go down and a wave of silence rolls
across the auditorium. Adrenaline
pumping music booms through the
walls and a series of sharply colored
power point slides begins with, “Weʼre
here to make a difference, to make
things better, to educate ourselves,
each other, and the WORLD.” The
momentum rolls on and the crowd is
mesmerized.

Blame this hypnotic state on the

ambition and passion of UW-Madison
senior Adam Ericsen and his new student organization, Discussions on Advancing
Regenerative Therapies (DART). UW-Madison is leading the country in stem cell
research and its companion fields under the world renowned research of Gabriela
Cezar (picture at right), Clive Svendsen, James Thomson and other faculty. Ericsen
founded DART under the teachings of these scientists. The four initiatives of DART are:
education and outreach, classroom outreach, to provide a constructive outlet for
ambition, and to develop international research prospectives. DART aims to provide
every student, despite their major, with the international resources to conduct
regenerative research and ask questions to find their own answers while bridging the
gap between professors and students.

“Itʼs student organizations like DART that are necessary for undergraduate students to
take the first step in realizing their own full potential,” says Dean of the Division of
International Studies, Gilles Bousquet. “Today that potential must entail a significant
degree of global competence that DART encourages.”

“Itʼs the biggest thing thatʼs ever happened on this campus,” Ericsen says of his
initiatives.
 DART

Ericsenʼs journey to the creation of this program began long before talk of DART began
in early October of 2007. According to Ericsen, his experience abroad drove him to the
conception of DART.

“It was as if studying in a completely different environment showed me what I could do;
it provided me with the opportunity to show myself how self-confident and capable I
was,” he says. “My experience abroad didnʼt provide me with self-confidence and new
capabilities, but it showed me what was already there.”

Ericsen received a DAAD grant in Summer 2007 to study German and research stem-
cells at the University of Bonn in Germany. He worked along side German professors
and students in a new learning environment than what he was used to on the UW
campus. In Germany stem-cell
research is restricted to stem-cell lines
created before 2001, any use of lines
created after results in imprisonment.
The only lines created before 2001 are
available from UW-Madison and Israel,
with UW as the dominant supplier.

“The main point isnʼt that UW benefits

from being the main provider for
Germany with stem-cell lines, but that
the scientific community as a whole
benefits from the distribution of lines
and availability,” says Ericsen. “The
attitudes toward stem-cell research
were much different and more
restrictive, but at the same time it was
amazing how many innovations grew
from such restrictions.”

Not only studying abroad, but previous circumstances lead to his involvement with stem
cell research and the eventual formation of DART. Originally a political science and
English major at Winona State University, Ericsen transferred to UW-Madison in 2004
after one year there. The summer during his transition to UW, Ericsenʼs mother was
diagnosed with cancer. He began his first semester at UW with a heavy, yet hopeful
heart. He enrolled in Genetics 160 with Professor Rayla Temin hoping to better
understand his motherʼs illness. The course seized his interest and hooked him into the
science realm for good. The following summer Ericsenʼs father was diagnosed with
cancer - pushing him farther into the field of regenerative studies.

Offering new perspectives to students is one of the four DART initiatives under
education and outreach with the DART Abroad program. The program allows for DART
members to go abroad free of charge for research or education and outreach purposes.
Through education and outreach students go beyond the lab to educate and facilitate on
 DART

health issues related to regenerative therapies in developing countries. Ericsen wants

every DART student to appreciate all ideas and opinions from around the world.

“DART is a way of applying an

appreciation and
understanding of different
perceptions,” says Ericsen.
“The world becomes smaller
when you know everyone who
lives on all corners of it.”

DART has already expanded

nationally, and globally. The
University of Pennsylvania,
Arizona State, and Virginia
State have partnered with
DART to create a larger and
more resourceful program for
students. Its global
connections extend to the
University of Bonn where
Ericsen studied and researched.

DART is the new and best resource for UW undergraduates to show the world what
they can do.