REU Site: Research Experience for Undergraduates in Molecular Biology and Genetics

Indiana University, Bloomington IN

Investigators

Abstract

The Indiana University REU Site program was established in 1998 and has been funded by NSF since 2000. Ten undergraduate students per year come to the Bloomington campus to participate in research at the frontiers of molecular biology and genetics. Applications from all students are considered, especially those from minority groups traditionally under-represented in science and those from institutions with limited research opportunities. Students conduct research in laboratories that use molecular biology and genetic techniques to investigate basic biological mechanisms, including the regulation of gene expression, the mechanisms of cell differentiation and development in plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria, host-parasite interaction and disease resistance in plants, molecular evolution, signal transduction, DNA repair, cellular mechanisms of mitosis and meiosis, protein structure, and virus infection and replication. This program is designed to develop both the technical and the intellectual abilities of the participants. Each student conducts a research project under close mentor supervision. Students also write research proposals and formal papers, present research talks at an end-of-program symposium, and participate in sessions on research ethics, graduate school, and other topics of interest. Students are also exposed to research conducted in a range of laboratories during weekly lunchtime seminars. More information is available at http://www.bio.indiana.edu/undergrad/opportunities/mbgreu/index.html, or by contacting the REU coordinator at iusummer@bio.indiana.edu.