The goals of the program are to provide qualified undergraduate minority students with the opportunity to conduct biomedical laboratory research and to gain first hand exposure to careers in biomedical sciences through participation in intense 10-12 week summer research experiences at the University of Pennsylvania. The long term aims are two-fold: (1) To enhance the total social, personal, and academic perspective of minority students; and (2) To increase the pool of minority students committed to careers in biomedical and biobehavioral sciences, with specific emphasis on heart, lung, and blood diseases, transfusion medicine and sleep disorders. The program is well integrated into all existing educational and research programs of the University of Pennsylvania, and draws on fifteen years of prior experience in the training of over 260 undergraduate minority students. The training faculty consists of established university investigators, including minority faculty, whose research interests focus on cardiovascular, pulmonary, and hematologic questions. The program provides trainees with an in-depth research experience, an opportunity to witness the professional and lifestyle attractions available in the academic community, and information about the training opportunities and financial support for careers in biomedical sciences. Recruitment primarily targets sophomores/juniors at historically black colleges and universities and Hispanic and Native American students. Trainees are selected by the program advisory committee on the basis of academic merit and motivation, and are chosen for laboratory placement by individual mentors based on their interests. The trainees are housed in campus dormitories during their participation in the program. Trainees work on research projects central to the research goals of the laboratory under the direct supervision of the mentor. At the end of the summer, trainees prepare an abstract and an oral presentation of the research for fellow trainees and mentors. Trainees are encouraged to return to Penn for a second summer to deepen their experience. Additional program components include a weekly research seminar, presentations by minority faculty and students, career counseling with directors of graduate research and medical training programs, participation in a national undergraduate research symposium, and peer mentoring for non-academic support.
| Gambone, Julia E; Dusaban, Stephanie S; Loperena, Roxana et al. (2011) The c-Myb target gene neuromedin U functions as a novel cofactor during the early stages of erythropoiesis. Blood 117:5733-43 |
