Summer Undergraduate Research Program 2007

HSCI is now accepting applications for the summer internship program. Click here for more information and to download the application. 

The final application deadline will be February 15, 2008 and students will be notified of their acceptance by April 4, 2008. 

The Summer Undergraduate Research Program at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute is an intensive 10-week hands-on research and educational program in stem cell science and technology. The first program, created in 2005, hosted 26 Harvard undergraduates and was extremely successful, engaging both the students and the investigators supervising them. In subsequent years HSCI expanded its mission to incorporate undergraduate students from around the world, with an emphasis on providing an opportunity for those who do not have access to stem cell research at their institution. Collectively, these students work on a number of disease-related topics such as diabetes, blood diseases and neurodegenerative diseases. They also conduct fundamental research in developmental biology, molecular and cellular biology, and tissue engineering. Systems used in their research include kidney, lung, pancreas, liver, human and mouse embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells, and mouse and zebrafish animal models.

In 2007, 31 undergraduates were selected from nearly 200 applicants and placed in HSCI stem cell laboratories at Harvard University, and Harvard Medical School and its affiliated research hospitals.
In addition to working full-time (40 hours/week) in the laboratory, all students attended two educational activities:  a seminar series and a Stem Cell Companion Course. The seminar series was held every Wednesday from 9:00a.m. - 11:00a.m. and featured a scientific talk by an HSCI stem cell investigator. This series also introduced students to alternative career options through a panel presentation at the beginning of the summer (see Appendix A).

The Stem Cell Companion Course was held every Tuesday evening from 5:00p.m. - 7:00p.m. and consisted of two major components, an outreach project and journal club. The first half of the summer was devoted to developing an outreach presentation aimed at the high school education level on a disease area relevant to stem cell research. The purpose of this project was two-fold, to engage students in working together as a group and to provide them with experience in translating difficult scientific terminology and concepts into language appropriate for a high school audience. Within a month each group prepared a final oral presentation as well as a white paper on their disease topic. HSCI held a High School Stem Cell Outreach Day in July in partnership with Larry Murphy, Director of the Advanced Biotechnology Institute at The Roxbury Latin School (http://www.biotech-institute.org/index.html). Two SURP interns representing each project engaged Mr. Murphy's high school students in brief overviews of the disease areas of blood diseases, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, neurological systems and tissue engineering. The afternoon was complete with time to socialize over pizza and cake. 

The second half of the Course was conducted as a journal club. Students were assigned primary literature to read, took turns presenting the scientific research, and discussed each one in detail. Throughout the course, students also learned about and discussed various technologies and methodologies such as nuclear transfer, immunostaining and parabiosis (see Appendix B) as well as the ethical and philosophical implications associated with this field of science.

At the end of the summer, each student presented their research in both oral format and as a poster presentation at a day-long symposium that was open to the HSCI community. In their oral presentations students briefly introduced their research and gave relevant background information; the data from their projects was displayed on their posters.