Club Med will meet on Dec. 3 to perform surgery on an axolotl, an animal that can regenerate its limbs, in order to learn more about stem cell regeneration. According to Omeed Malek, Club Med president and junior, the surgical process will also invol

ve student participation.

Although Malek said he will do most of the cutting portion, others will help keep the animals alive while he performs the surgery, such as wetting the axolotl, handling tools and making small cuts.

According to Malek, the experiment will give students insight into what surgery is like.

“If we can’t do surgery on humans, the closest and most fascinating animal is the axolotl. It has 90 percent of the genes we do and has remarkable regenerative powers,” Malek said via email. “The axolotl’s stem cell reservoirs can be easily harvested and are naturally created by the animal’s own regenerative processes.”

Malek said students will also benefit because similar experiments are often performed in the field of regenerative biology and chemistry.

Naheel Khatri, Club Med member and freshman, said he is eager to begin the surgery. “I’ve never seen surgery before, so this experiment will give me a general idea of what occurs during surgery in case I decide to go into surgery in the future,” Khatri said.

Malek said that students should not worry about ethical problems because the axolotls Club Med uses are lab-generated and pose no threat to the animals. “I want to do the best I can to make my members feel enticed in our club and our mission,” he said.