# High School Student NeuroResearch Program (HSNRP)

> **NIH NIH R25** · UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA · 2020 · $99,284

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
The University of Arizona (UA) High School Student NeuroResearch Program (HSNRP)
introduces, trains, and nurtures a growing pipeline of diverse talented Arizona high school
students, expanded by select progressing undergraduates, including a majority of
underrepresented disadvantaged minorities in basic, translational, and clinical research on the
normal and abnormal nervous system, neurological disorders, and stroke, and also encourages
pursuit of advanced research experiences and fulfilling health/medical/science-related careers.
We are leveraging the strong infrastructure, effective recruitment strategies, high level of
student/faculty mentor participation, esprit-de-corps, and outstanding trainee productivity of our
long-standing federally funded multidisciplinary/multispecialty disadvantaged high school
student, undergraduate, and medical student summer research programs and year-round
enrichment activities to energize the training model for this specialized NeuroResearch (NR)
program. Fourteen-16 full-time 8-12 week summer high school and 4-6 undergraduate trainees
annually for the next 5 years will be offered an expanding menu of closely mentored NR
experiences; for retention in the pipeline, select HSNRP trainees will be subsequently
reappointed for more advanced NR. Interacting together, these trainees will be integrated into
an innovative, internationally recognized inquiry-based Summer Institute on Medical Ignorance
(SIMI) which interweaves biomedical Knowns and Unknowns ("what we know we don't know,
don't know we don't know, and think we know but don't") with featured NR topics and mentor
"stories" and sustains the momentum by periodic enrichment activities year-round. SIMI
emphasizes "translating translation and scientific questioning" and includes a brief Introduction
to Pathobiology and the language of medicine, topical seminars, laboratory/leadership/
multimedia skill workshops and practicums, clinical correlations, social networking, and career
advising. A unique Virtual Clinical Research Center/Questionarium forms a mobile phone
accessible-centerpiece platform for training and national/international networking. Within basic
and clinical departments and specialized Centers of Excellence with enhanced Neuroscience
emphasis and overseen by an energetic experienced multidiscplinary HSNRP Leadership Team
and Advisory Committee, student research will encompass cross-cutting themes and in vivo, in
vitro, in situ, in silico, and modeling approaches to neurobiology/disorders including Parkinson,
Alzheimer, Niemann-Pick C diseases, ALS, epilepsy, HIV encephalopathy, head trauma,
hydrocephalus, muscular dystrophy, pain/addiction pharmacology, molecular psychiatry,
cognition, brain development, brain mapping, senescence, mental retardation, blood-brain
barrier/neuroprotection, neuroimaging, neuro-genomics/proteomics, neuroengineering, deep
brain stimulation, brain tumors, cerebrovascular disease, stroke, neurohealth disparities, an...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9825563
- **Project number:** 5R25NS076437-08
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
- **Principal Investigator:** Frank Porreca
- **Activity code:** R25 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $99,284
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2011-08-01 → 2021-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9825563

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9825563, High School Student NeuroResearch Program (HSNRP) (5R25NS076437-08). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9825563. Licensed CC0.

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