A conference near Grand Island today and tomorrow will showcase the biomedical research work performed this summer by college students from across the state.
The students – from 10 different undergraduate and community college programs -are participants in a program that serves as a means to introduce students to serious biomedical research and to provide a platform for them if they wish to pursue a career in research, said James Turpen, Ph.D., professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the director of the program.
“This is a statewide effort, with the University of Nebraska Medical Center as the lead institution, that will provide research opportunities for undergraduate students and serve as a pipeline for those students to continue in graduate research,” Dr. Turpen said.
Dr. Turpen serves as the principal investigator of a five-year, $17 million grant that funds the program. The federal grant is funded through the Institutional Development Award Program (IDeA) Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE). Awarded earlier this year, the grant was the second one from the National Institutes of Health to fund this program, which began in Nebraska in 2001.
Students enter the INBRE program after the complete their sophomore year of college. Recommended by their college professors, they come from 10 different institutions – the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the University of Nebraska at Omaha, the University of Nebraska at Kearney, Creighton University, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Doane College, Chadron State College, Wayne State College, Little Priest Tribal College and Western Nebraska Community College.
Once in the INBRE program, the students are given two-year scholarships worth $11,000. The scholarship provides students with $2,500 during each of their next two undergraduate years and $3,000 during each of their next two summers. During the school year, the students conduct research with faculty members on their home campuses. During the summers, the students have the option of staying on their home campus or coming to UNMC, UNL or Creighton to conduct research with world-class scientists.
A major goal of the INBRE program, Dr. Turpen said, is to enhance the science and technology knowledge of the state’s workforce, which will hopefully attract more biotech industry to the state. It also will provide support for core facilities in bioinformatics, proteomics and DNA microarray technology for biomedical research.
At the conference in Grand Island, INBRE students who are completing their first year of research projects will give oral presentations on their work. Students completing their second year will present their findings on posters.