2 Project Summary/Abstract The diversi?cation of the health-related work force is a crucial component of not only increasing inclusiveness, but also opening up the ?eld to a more diverse set of perspectives. Aim 1 : This supplement is aimed at increasing research experience of a Latina candidate while having her study for, apply to, and be admitted to medical school. One of the greatest challenges of biotechnology is establishing the base sequence of individual molecules of DNA without the need for PCR or other ampli?cation. The read length, in particular, is an important factor in being able to sequence accurately. Aim 2 : We aim to study methods to increase the read length by inhibiting secondary structure formation in single-stranded DNA.