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.
The purpose of this grant is to provide under-represented minority undergraduate students with an opportunity to work on an mentored research project in genome sciences or medicine, supplemented with training in the core genome sciences and ethical/legal/social issues, and to develop essential research skills including conducting a literature review, critical reading of scientific literature, and oral and written presentations. The students supported by this grant will gain the necessary knowledge and experience to continue their educational career at the next level of graduate training if desired in science, technology, or mathematics.
