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 Lelisse Umeta, a biology major at Chadron State College, talks about her INBRE experience.
What should we know about you?
“My top five Clifton Strength Assessment results are:
Restorative, Analytical, Relator, Harmony and Responsibility.”
What or who influenced your interest in science?
“I would say innate curiosity about how living things function the way they function.”
What is it about science that excites you?
“The fact that you can perform an experiment and discover something that could help save lives or add one more information that could help other scientists to experiment more.”
Will you pursue a career in science? If so, what do you hope to accomplish?
“Yes. I would like to go through MD/PHD track and immerse myself in both patient care as well as research side of medical science.”
Why is it important to have programs like INBRE?
“It is very important to have programs like INBRE for students like me who would like to do biomedical researches because it will help us have a good base in research and prepare us with skillsets for graduate school.”
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