The Department of Molecular Biosciences at The University of Kansas will continue its summer program of Research Experiences for Undergraduates in Molecular Biosciences, for 10 weeks in the summers of 1999-2001. Recognizing the pivotal role of independent laboratory research in their students' decisions to make a commitment to research careers in the biological sciences, this opportunity to students from colleges with limited research opportunities, and to members of groups traditionally underrepresented. This program focuses on several overlapping areas of biochemistry and cellular, molecular, and developmental biology, principally protein structure and function, enzyme mechanisms, and protein engineering; proteins involved in cytoskeletal structure; the structure, function, and regulation of membrane proteins-receptors, ion channels and ion transporters-and of their genes; and molecular analysis of signal transduction cascades in microbial metabolism and eukaryotic developmental biology. To maximize the unique opportunities offered at The University of Kansas, students will be involved in collaborative projects combining classical protein structure analysis, molecular genetics, and physical biochemical approaches. This experience will provide the students with an inside view of these areas of biochemistry and molecular biology that may previously have seemed inaccessible to them. Undergraduate research is performed in a closely mentored and well-controlled environment. We have repeatedly seen, in students and in the REU participants, the wakening of excitement and the realization that a career in science was accessible which were made possible by an early hands-on experience using powerful techniques to approach important biological questions.
