Despite the significant progress made in the field of cancer therapy, there exists a certain subset of tumor cells referred to as cancer stem cells (CSCs) that possess the ability to self-renew, hence rendering them resistant to conventional therapeutic interventions. Conventional cancer therapies fail to eradicate cancer cells because they only eliminate differentiated cancer cells while sparing CSCs, resulting in cancer cell metastasis and recurrence. For the future treatment of malignancies, there is an unmet medical need to investigate potential pharmaceuticals that target CSCs. We use CSCs as a research model to investigate three primary research topics, including 1) mitochondrial bioenergetics, 2) transcription factor small-molecule drugs, and 3) exosome-based medication. Our goal is to let students participate in one of the research topics and write a research report to conclude the project. Our objective during the training process is to coach the students into independent researchers capable of independently designing and carrying out the experiments.