Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Undergraduate Research Addressing Challenges in Kidney and Urologic Diseases

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PROJECT SUMMARY This 5-year Summer Undergraduate Research Institute for Meeting Challenges in Kidney and Urologic Diseases (KUD) at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM), offers diverse cohorts of 8 undergraduate students each summer (2022-2027) 10-week multidisciplinary research opportunities utilizing tissue engineering and regenerative medicine (TERM) strategies to address challenges relevant to the prevention, and treatment of kidney and urologic diseases. With interest in addressing the perseverance of the “leaky pipeline” negatively impacting the diversity of the biomedical workforce, we focus on participation of under-represented minority groups, women, and non-traditional students – including students attending 2- and 4- year universities with limited research and first-generation students. Through companion foci of disparities in KUD research and health care, coupled with research courses for skill development and novel educational/career persistence interventions to support student participants, we expect to: 1) enhance diverse students’ participation, learning and mentored research experience with faculty and near-peer graduate mentors during and beyond the 10-week on-site program; 2) enhance students’ knowledge, career intentions and persistence in TERM in KUD research, specifically, and careers in biomedical research broadly; 3) develop and implement a specialized career intentions and perceptions evaluation approach; 4) make a bigger impact on the community; and 5) increase matriculation into graduate, PhD, and MD/PhD programs and careers with focus in TERM and KUD research. These goals will be accomplished via a highly coordinated, mentored interdisciplinary summer research institute with a combination of hands-on and “virtual” research activities, instrumentation training, didactic components, specialized workshops, seminars and mini courses available across participating departments and centers and other funded NIDDK R25 programs, spanning bioethics, responsible conduct of research, health disparities, oral and written communications, and program-tailored education and career development perceptions and intentions evaluation. All students provide an oral overview of their research, present scientific posters at the NIDDK Summer Research Symposium and will be provided institutional support for submitting abstracts for presentation at regional and national conferences. The program incorporates WFIRM faculty, near-peer graduate students and leverages partnerships with the WFSM Department of Urology, the VT- WF School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences and the WFIRM Bladder Research Center. Achieving our goals will be facilitated by multiple extant regional and national partnerships with scientific, educational and minority serving institutions to enhance recruitment, professional development and, notably, retain focus on KUD research priorities. Overall, we expect these activities and approaches will reinforce positive alignment between self-perceptions, perceptions of scientists, and career intentions and success in TERM and KUD research fields across academic, government, and industry sectors.