Program Descriptions

In addition to the research activities, each student participates in a small peer group seminar where each student describes his/her project and reports on progress.

Community-building activities include an orientation event prior to the beginning of the summer, seminars about ethical and professional issues in the research environment, as well as numerous weekend social activities. At the end of the summer, each student prepares and presents a professional quality poster at the LSSURP poster symposium, which is followed by a closing program. During their summer of involvement students experience the culture of laboratory or field research in a research-oriented academic community.

These experiences often have a significant impact on subsequent professional and/or career choices. Through participation in LSSURP students can personally observe and experience the University of Minnesota and thereby become familiar with the outstanding academic opportunities as well as the exceptional quality of life available in Minnesota.

CANCER RESEARCH, EDUCATION AND TRAINING EXPERIENCE (CREATE) PROGRAM

The CREATE program is an integrated summer experience for talented, motivated undergraduate students interested in a cancer research career. Trainees will conduct independent cancer biology research under the mentorship of a CREATE program faculty mentor and engage in a weekly research seminar with other CREATE students. The research experience will be coupled with a Cancer Education Workshop that will provide an overview of cancer biology and development of key professional development skills.

HEART, LUNG, & BLOOD (HLB) PROGRAM

The HLB program places students in labs across a wide number of disciplines including: biochemistry, cell biology, molecular biology, immunology, physiology, pharmacology, stem cell biology.

DENTAL AND CRANIOFACIAL RESEARCH PROGRAM (MnCORE)

The Minnesota Craniofacial and Oral health Research Experience (MnCORE) aims to introduce new generations of researchers to questions in craniofacial, oral health, and dental research. The research strengths of this training program include immunology/cancer, biomaterials, bone biology, and microbiology. MnCORE has four integrated components based on its foundational ten-week residential summer research and career development program: 1) completion of a research project, 2) weekly group seminars, 3) introduction to oral biology and dental career paths, and 4) development of professional skills. Students interested in research careers, clinical careers, and combined DDS/PhD career paths are all welcome to apply.

NEURAL SYSTEMS ENGINEERING (NSE) PROGRAM

The Neural Systems Engineering Research Experiences for Undergraduate (NSE-REU) program provides talented undergraduate students the opportunity to research projects relate to advancing engineering approaches to study and interact with the central and peripheral nervous systems, including topics in experimental studies using cutting-edge recording and stimulation techniques, computational modeling, and neurotechnology device fabrication. 

NEUROSCIENCE OF NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS AND DRUG ADDICTION (NS AND NS-ADD) PROGRAM

The Neuroscience Program features a full ten weeks of research experience in one of the many neuroscience laboratories at the University of Minnesota.  For the summer program, there are two topics to choose from: neurodegenerative disorders and drug addiction.  Although it helps to have taken some chemistry and biology coursework, our students traditionally come from a variety of backgrounds. We provide a brief classroom “Introduction to Neuroscience” to ensure all our students have a useful level of background knowledge to supplement the laboratory experience they enjoy. In addition, there are Neuroscience seminars and presentations to supplement the students’ research experiences.  The Neuroscience Program is funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

NEUROIMAGING IN COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE (COG-NS) PROGRAM

Brain imaging is one of the most important tools for understanding the workings of the human mind. Students in this 10-week NSF-funded program will be taught the fundamentals of neuroimaging methods in an initial “boot camp”, focusing on a hands-on introduction to functional MRI and electroencephalography (EEG). They will then join top Cognitive Neuroscience labs at UMN to help conduct neuroimaging research on topics that range from basic sensory and motor processes, to addiction research, to problem solving and decision making. Please check out our website here.

PRE-MSTP PROGRAM

If you are interested in pursuing a combined MD/PhD degree and you meet the requirements below, you should select PreMSTP as one of your options on the application. Those accepted will spend 10 weeks in the lab of a physician-scientist, have the opportunity to shadow their lab mentor or another physician-scientist in clinical activities, and have regular interactions with current MSTP students. Competitive applicants for the Pre-MSTP program will have: 1) completed their junior year of undergraduate studies at the time of entrance into the pre-MSTP; 2) a minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.5; and 3) a letter of recommendation from a research mentor that speaks to your qualifications for the MD/PhD career track. Learn more about the 2020 mentors and their research. 

PHARMACONEUROIMMUNOLOGY (PNI) PROGRAM

The Summer Research Program in PharmacoNeuroImmunology is a NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse) funded interdisciplinary training program at the University of Minnesota. The PNI Program is composed of an intensive laboratory-based research experience that entails close interaction with and mentorship by a training program faculty member that focuses on drug abuse research. 

TRAINING RESEARCH EDUCATORS IN MINNESOTA (TREM) PROGRAM

Training Research Educators in Minnesota (TREM) program is an NIH funded Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award (IRACDA). TREM trains the next generation of faculty through a balanced 3-year postdoctoral training program in both research and teaching. Teacher training is conducted in local community colleges with a historic background of serving underrepresented communities. Each year six underrepresented minority students are competitively chosen from the community colleges to take part in LSSURP, conducting research under the mentorship of the postdoctoral scholars and TREM research mentors.