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Summer Student Reserch Programs
ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL SUMMER FOR THE STUDENT RESEARCH PROGRAMS!
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More than 50 students participated in programs hosted by the Office of Diversity Affairs, the Center for Cardiovascular Diseases and Sciences, the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, and the Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology, & Neuroscience. These programs are designed to provide students interested in science and healthcare with real-world experience to help advance their future academic and career goals. LSU Health Shreveport has provided summer research programs for more than 20 years, and these programs continue to grow each year. Many students who have participated in summer programs at LSU Health Shreveport have gone on to obtain a science-based bachelor’s degree, and numerous students have returned to campus as graduate, allied health or medical students.
Cardiovascular Undergraduate Research Initiative fOr Underrepresented Students (CURIOUS) is a National Institute of Health (NIH)-funded summer research program for underrepresented minority undergraduate students interested in pursuing research as part of their scientific or clinical career goals. The highly competitive NIH R25 Research Education Program grant that supports the CURIOUS program was received by LSU Health Shreveport for the first time in 2019. 2022 marked the third year for CURIOUS at LSUHS with the 2020 program being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ten outstanding students were selected from across the United States to spend the summer in Shreveport and participate in this 8-week intensive cardiovascular research program. Each student was assigned a mentor and conducted research in their lab alongside their team. Students also participated in weekly enrichment activities. Top students are invited back for a second year to continue their research and participate in more advanced clinical and research enrichment activities.
The Jumpstart Summer Enrichment Program (JSEP) and the Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program (UGRAP) are summer enrichment programs led by the Office of Diversity Affairs at LSU Health Shreveport. JSEP is a program for Caddo and Bossier Parish high school students. During this 8-week summer program, students are assigned a LSUHS faculty mentor and spend 40 hours a week in laboratories and clinics performing hands-on research projects designed to support their interest in science and prepare them to pursue a healthcare career. UGRAP is an 8-week research apprenticeship program designed for undergraduate college students who have an interest in pursuing a career in biomedical research, medicine or allied health professions. Students have a LSUHS faculty member as a mentor for the summer and work alongside scientists, doctors and laboratory personnel in research labs. At the end of their 8-week programs, JSEP and UGRAP students present the findings of their summer research projects at a poster session demonstrating the skills learned in scientific writing and data analysis.
STUDENT RESEARCH PROGRAMS
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The Summer Undergraduate Pharmacology Experience in Research (SUPER) is a summer internship program in the Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology, & Neuroscience that provides career opportunities pharmacology, toxicology, carcinogenesis, chemoprevention, neuropharmacology, and neuroscience graduate research. Four students were selected from colleges across the country to participate in SUPER this summer and spent eight weeks interning in a research laboratory at LSU Health Shreveport. Each student works on their own research project and is mentored by participating LSUHS faculty members. In addition, students attend a weekly career development seminar and receive laboratory safety training. At the end of the summer internship, students present their research findings in a departmental poster session.
The Undergraduate Biomedical Research Fellowship
The Undergraduate Biomedical Research Fellowship Program was established at LSU Health Shreveport in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology to help meet the urgent need for talented new scientists to face challenges of diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and other microbial organisms that cause widespread suffering throughout the world and in our own communities. At the same time, microbiologists are making breathtaking progress in understanding and combatting infectious pathogens through innovative molecular, biochemical, and computational technologies. Through this competitive summer fellowship program, students have the opportunity to gain hands-on experiences in cutting-edge biomedical research laboratories at LSU Health Shreveport under the mentorship of nationally recognized leaders in microbiology and immunology research. Fellows work with their mentors to create a scientific question to serve as the focus of their project and then spend their time in the Fellowship program to find experimental answers to their question. In addition to laboratory research, Fellows participate alongside graduate students in seminars, journal clubs, and other scientific experiences to deepen their understanding of microbiology and immunology. The program concludes with a Summer Biomedical Research Symposium where Fellows present their research findings.
This year marked the second year of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology’s collaboration with the Fundación Barrié in La Coruna, Spain. The collaboration offers Fellowships to Spanish national students to participate in the departmental summer undergraduate research program, establishing an international outreach of this highly competitive summer program. These students are fully integrated into the Undergraduate Biomedical Research Fellowship and participate in all activities but present their summer research projects during a departmental seminar series instead of a poster session. The Barrie Foundation was founded in 1966 and has worked for the economic, social, and cultural development of Galicia in northwest Spain by implementing innovative initiatives and programs in education, science and research, heritage and culture, and social welfare. Over the last 54 years, the Barrie Foundation has awarded more than 15,000 scholarships to students who demonstrate exceptional academic achievements and who show excellent promise as future leaders in their fields.
