BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH EXPERIENCES FOR NON-BIOLOGY MAJORS

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This application is in response to an RFA for providing Summer Research Experiences in Biomedical Science for undergraduates who come from distinct, non-biological backgrounds. With the increasing need for interdisciplinary approaches to solving biological problems, it is imperative that we modify the way in which the researchers of tomorrow are trained. Particularly, it would be a great asset to attract students with greater quantitative skills. While graduate programs in interdisciplinary areas, such as that run at SUNY at Buffalo by CAMBI, are often available, for many students this occurs too late at a time in which their career track has been set. The current program seeks to intervene during the undergraduate years to expose students, who are currently in more physical science tracks, to the wealth of opportunities provided in the biomedical sciences. An integrated 10 week summer program is proposed that would provide 10 students each year with a research experience in one of several areas, combined with a series of short courses in current topics in the biomedical sciences, a seminar series geared towards career opportunities, and field trips to local research facilities. Research areas represented among the mentors of the program include: tissue bioengineering; mechanisms of pathogenic; molecular analysis of neurological disorders and development; cell biology of inter- and intra- cellular signaling mechanisms; biophysics of ion channels, and; structural analysis of macromolecules. Students in the program would be given an initial orientation to lab techniques, and to the research opportunities available within the program in their first week. At the close of the program, the students will present their work at a meeting of all of the CAMBI labs as part of a research retreat scheduled prior to the beginning of Fall classes. Extensive efforts through a dedicated web page will be used to publicize the results of the student research, and as a means of tracking students who leave the program to assess its effectiveness.