Program Description
SIMR is an 8-week summer internship program open to high school juniors and seniors. The program consists of hands-on research under the direct guidance of a one-on-one mentor at a top class lab within the Institutes of Medicine at Stanford University. The five Institutes include: Immunology, Stem Cell Biology, Neurobiolgoy, Cardiovascular Medicine and Cancer Biology. During the majority of the summer, students will participate in lab work in their assigned lab. In addition, all students will participate in the following:
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Institute specific lectures which will meet twice a week for most of the summer
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Core SIMR lectures from guest speakers
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Safety training sessions during the first and second weeks
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Seminars on career choices, college admissions
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Field trip to a local biotech company
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Poster session at the end of the program where students will present their work to their families and the Stanford community (Thursday, August, 6, 2009). A presentation will also be given within each Institute group.
INSTITUTE PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS
Stanford Institute for Immunity, Transplantation and Infection
The Immunology program (known as the CCIS Summer Program) was launched during the summer of 2000 with 10 students, and this was increased to 20 students in 2001 and thereafter. The CCIS Summer Intern Program has now come under the newly created Institute of Immunity, Transplantation, and Infection (ITI). Since that time, we have developed a program to present immunology research in a friendly yet challenging manner. The bulk of the students’ time is spent performing experiments through a one-on-one mentorship by a graduate student, fellow, or faculty member. The program supplements the student's research projects with informative lectures by Stanford researchers. Some of the lecture topics in the past have included:
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Innate Immunity
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Antigen Presentation
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Immunological Techniques
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Multiple Sclerosis and T Cell Immunity
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B Cell Development and Effector Functions
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Allergy
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Cytokines and Chemokines
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Tumor Immunology
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Transplantation
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Antibody Diversity
Lectures will be given twice a week during the first 5 weeks of the summer. If you would like more information about some of the researchers in the Immunology Division at Stanford, please go to: http://immunology.stanford.edu/research/ and http://iti.stanford.edu/
In the summer of 2008, three of the Institutes (Neuroscience, Stem Cell and Cardiovascular Medicine) began participating in the SIMR Program. A fantastic set of lectures for each of these Institutes was created and taught by graduate students and Faculty. Lectures will take place twice a week (for the first 5 weeks) and will occur in a small group setting. Topics in each individual Institute lecture series last year consisted of the following:
Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine
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Introduction to Stem Cells-Embryonic and Adult
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Intro to Hemapoetic Stem Cells (HSC)
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Stem Cell Techniques
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The History of Identifying the HSC
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Transplantation
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Development of HSCs in Normal and Transplant
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The Cancer Stem Cell Hypothesis
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How Transcription Factors Regulate Hematopoesis
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Progenitor Controversies
For more information about the Stem Cell Institute, please see http://stemcell.stanford.edu/
Stanford Institute for Neuro-Innovation & Translational Neuroscience
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Neurons
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Synapses
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Anatomy of the Nervous System
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Anatomy Lab Demo
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Development
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Movement
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Stem Cells in Parkinson’s Disease
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Vision
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Learning and Memory
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Depression
For more information about the Neuroscience Institute, please go to http://neuroscience.stanford.edu/
Stanford Cardiovascular Institute
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The Vascular Endothelium, the Teflon Coating For the Blood Vessels
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The Heart-From Blue Whales and Olympic Golds to Artificial Hearts
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Diabetes and Insulin Resistance
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Stem Cells and the Heart
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Cardiovascular Genetics
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Heart Failure-Causes and Mechanisms
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Women's Heart Health
For more information about the Cardiovascular Institute, please see http://cvi.stanford.edu/
Stanford Cancer Center
In the Cancer Biology High School Summer Research Program, students will attend lectures that cover the basic biology of cancer: how cancer cells avoid cell death, grow uncontrollably and invade other tissues, as well as clinical aspects, such as cancer prevention and therapeutics.
This program has been running independently of SIMR for the past three years. In merging with the SIMR program, we hope students will gain an even richer research experience and establish broader connections to other areas of biological research.
While the research experience will be similar to those of the other institutes, we emphasize two features in particular.
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Strong candidates are students who would bring diversity to the biological and biomedical sciences by reason of their culture, class, race, ethnicity, background, work and life experiences, skills and interests. Applications are especially encouraged from students who are Black/African Americans, Latino/Chicano Americans, native Americans, and Pacific Islanders.
- Students are expected to give one informal “Chalk Talk” and a formal Powerpoint presentation on their research project at the end of the summer.
For a full description of the Cancer Biology Program, please visit http://cancerbio.stanford.edu/summer.html and http://cancer.stanford.edu/ for more information about the Cancer Center at Stanford.
