The Jackson Laboratory, in Bar Harbor, Maine, conducts research in functional genomics and in interdisciplinary approaches to solving biological problems using the latest genetic tools. Jackson Lab will recruit 8 undergraduate students each summer within the framework of its existing Summer Student Program. The 11-week program will offer students hands-on training in interdisciplinary research linking the biological, physical, and computational sciences to investigations of genome function. Each student will perform an independent, hypothesis-driven research project as a member of a sponsoring scientist's laboratory team. Students can select from among the scientific staff many of whom are leaders in the country. Participants will be chosen through a competitive nationwide application process to represent a diverse group with respect to gender, ethnicity, economic background, and enrollment in research-limited institutions. Underrepresented groups are encouraged to apply and are actively recruited. Students are provided access to Jackson Lab's resources such as courses and conferences, state-of-the-art instrumentation and bioinformatics databases, and housing in an oceanfront dormitory overseen by professional staff. Jackson Lab offers a stimulating environment in which undergraduates with a passion for hands-on experimental science can contribute to real research progress and make great strides in intellectual and personal growth. Additional information is available at www.jax.org/education/ssp.html, or by contacting Jon Geiger at summerstudents@jax.org; or the PI, Barbara Knowles.
The Jackson Laboratory’s (JAX) REU funded program provides an intensive, high quality summer research program in functional genomics for undergraduates and graduated high school students. REU interns conduct independent, hypothesis-driven research projects in the laboratories of JAX faculty as part of the prestigious JAX Summer Student Program. In the reporting period, six (6) undergraduates and one (1) graduated high school student participated in the program. The goals of the project are to enable students to make significant strides in intellectual and personal growth. They work directly with biomedical research faculty and receive solid grounding in research methodologies, research ethics, presentation skills, report writing and more. Diversity in science is promoted by actively recruiting students from underrepresented groups, including racial and ethnic minorities, women and economically disadvantaged students. A majority of students strengthen their interest in research careers, while others may learn about related professions that better suit their interests and skills. For the duration of the program, the students lived at Highseas, a JAX-owned oceanfront residence, as an essential part of the internship experience. The Highseas live-in supervisory staff included JAX Assistant Professor Ron Korstanje, Ph.D., as Residence Supervisor, and two Residence Assistants, who were outstanding summer students from previous years. In support of the program goal to provide a shared science learning environment beyond the lab, Highseas offers an informal setting for required talks by the students, dinners with mentors and their lab teams, and other science-focused social activities. The seven students were or are all enrolled in STEM majors at colleges and universities. Three undergraduates earned their degrees in May 2014. They are Connor Dolan from Tulane University; Charles Thorpe from Vanderbilt University, where he is currently working as a research assistant; and Courtney Vaughn from North Carolina State University, who has returned to the 2014 summer student program as a resident assistant. Vaughn will next study at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute. Continuing their educations are Jennifer Ditano, a senior at the University of Southern Maine, Bethany Berry, a junior at Williams College, and Jake Radell, a junior at Wesleyan University). The graduated high school student in the 2013 program, Nabig Chaudhry, is now enrolled at Harvard University. The students completed functional genomics research projects on the following topics: The Altered Expression of CELF4 Responsive mRNAs in Kindled Wild-type Mice (Berry); QTL Mapping of Modifiers of Junctional Epidermolysis Bullosa Using Phenotypically Disparate Strains B6 and 129X1 (Chaudry); Mouse Modeling of Mutational Acquisition in Human Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) (Ditano); Identification of Clinically Relevant Read-outs and Study of Muscle Regenerative Potential in an Improved Muscular Dystrophy Mouse Model, the DBA/2J-mdx Congenic Dolan); Investigating Neurovascular Changes in Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease (Radell); Examination of Insulin Signaling in an Alms1 Gene Trap Mouse Model for Alström Syndrome (Thorpe); and Dendritic Spine Density Changes: A Correlation with Age and Behavioral Phenotypes (Vaughn). They presented research results at the end-of-program Student Symposium, and prepared written reports in the style of a journal publication, which were bound and made permanently available in the JAX library (http://mouseion.jax.org).
