On May 28, the Nebraska Institutional Development Award Program (IDeA) Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) program welcomed 29 undergraduate students from across Nebraska as they embark on their summer research experience at Creighton University, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
The INBRE program is overseen by Paul Sorgen, Ph.D., a professor in the department of biochemistry and molecular biology at UNMC and principal investigator of the $16.2 million National Institutes of Health grant that supports the program.
Established in 2001, the INBRE program was created to expose students to serious biomedical research, build a statewide biomedical research infrastructure between undergraduate and graduate institutions and to strengthen undergraduate institution's infrastructure and increase its capacity to conduct cutting-edge biomedical and behavioral research.
The students, referred to as INBRE scholars, enter the program after completing their sophomore year of college upon recommendation by their college professors. The students receive a two-year scholarship and spend 10 weeks each summer conducting research on either their home campus or at UNMC, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln or Creighton University.
At the end of the summer, the students attend the INBRE annual meeting where they give an oral presentation on their research project.
Below Evie Ehrhorn, a molecular and biomedical biology major at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, talks about her INBRE experience.
Tell me about yourself. Who are your heroes?
“I consider myself an extroverted introvert. I love spending time with my friends and being out and about, however, my favorite place to be is just at home spending quality time with my family. I am an avid runner that likes to play the occasional game of tennis and kick around a soccer ball. I am also a huge animal lover, except I definitely will never be able to get over my fear of snakes. My heroes would be my siblings. My older sister is a hero in my eyes because she has paved the way for me since I was born. Greta has been able to show me how hard work and consistency pays off over time, even when there are adversities along the path. My twin brother, Abram, never ceases to amaze me. He has been able to show me how you can be successful through determination, yet be humble about your success.
What are your career goals?
“One career goal is to complete my PhD. Following that, I would like to further my research and work for the government in their infectious disease department and hopefully be able to work to wipe out mass infections across the country.”
How did you become interested in science?
“My interest in science probably began with my mom’s work. My mom is a homebound teacher that educates students who are too ill to go to school. Her students’ health is so fragile, that they are in need of their schooling to be brought to them. My mom has always been a light in her student’s eyes and tries to make the best of every situation. I would like to do the same, however, in more of a roundabout way. Through science, I will be able to make a difference in people’s lives by hopefully finding explanations and cures for different illnesses that will make their lives a little easier.”
What do you hope the INBRE program will do for you?
“I am hoping that the INBRE program will allow me to be able to find my niche in which path I would like to research further for my PhD and later on in life.”
How do you see science evolving over the next 20 years?
“That’s a very hard question to answer, because science has already changed drastically from even 20 years ago. It’s absolutely unbelievable to think that the human genome project was completed only 16 years ago and it took 13 years to complete, but as of recently, it takes merely a couple of hours to complete the same task! Overall, I believe that there will be more of a shift towards personalized medicine and that science will become more data driven.”
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