Summer Scholars Program in Genome Sciences and Medicine

NIH RePORTER · NIH · R25 · $190,645 · view on reporter.nih.gov ↗

Abstract

The overarching goal of this application is to provide a high quality mentored research experience for promising students in the rapidly growing area of genome sciences and precision medicine. Students interested in pursuing a career in genome sciences and medicine research will require a strong foundation of core genome sciences technology and inter-disciplinary training. We propose a 10-week summer program that will include a mentored research project in genome sciences and medicine, didactic and interactive training, and interaction with academic and industry scientists. The program will be open to undergraduate students, particularly under-represented minorities (URM), at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) and Duke University. Students will have a range of research opportunities to select from the pool of 34 mentors working on projects in applied genome sciences, data sciences, translational genomic medicine, bioinformatics and computational biology, engineering, and statistics. The summer program builds upon our rich experience in undergraduate mentorship and training by the former Duke Institute of Genome Sciences & Policy (IGSP) and currently administered by the Duke Center for Genomic and Computational Biology (GCB) and past partnership with NCCU. Through these programs, we have accepted more than 150 students, 22% of whom are from under-represented minorities and more than half of whom are women; several have successfully continued their research throughout their undergraduate career and been accepted into leading graduate programs and medical schools around the country. The research experience will be complemented by a series of training lectures and interactive learning activities from the core GCB facilities (proteomics/ metabolomics, sequencing, microarrays, and biostatistics), visits to NCCU and companies using genome sciences technologies or data in their research in nearby Research Triangle Park, and science-related community service activities. In addition, students will have the opportunity to consider broader issues impacted by their research through a weekly discussion on the ethical, legal, social, and policy issues and gain important skills such as critical reading a scientific paper, leading a discussion group, conducting literature reviews, and making formal presentations. All students will be required to present their research at the conclusion of the program. If needed to ensure a diverse student group each summer, we will expand our recruitment to other schools in the region, including several Historically Black Universities and Colleges (HBUCs) and establish partnerships with other local institutions during the course of the award to expand the student pool. In summary, students in this program will benefit from the rich and highly interdisciplinary resources available at Duke for genome sciences and medicine research.

Key facts

NIH application ID
10006329
Project number
5R25HG009644-04
Recipient
DUKE UNIVERSITY
Principal Investigator
Susanne Haga
Activity code
R25
Funding institute
NIH
Fiscal year
2020
Award amount
$190,645
Award type
5
Project period
2017-09-22 → 2022-06-30