Summer Biomedical Science Program in Bioinformatics
Grow personally and professionally through this challenging and enriching experience. Get immersed in interactive learning experiences for 20 days with our didactic sessions, workshops, team meetings, and keynote lectures where you will:
- Master bioinformatics techniques and analyze RNAseq datasets
- Learn coding and R studio for advanced data analysis
- Explore ethical and societal implications of AI, as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion in science
- Improve writing skills and publish a biomedical research paper
- Learn from experts and gain access to supercomputing resources
- Unlock secrets of the genome and build a foundation in cloud computing
- Develop in-demand skills for your career and educational goals
Virtual Program Details
- Week 1: June 16 - June 21
- Week 2: June 23 - June 28
- Week 3: June 30- July 3
- Week 4: July 7 - July 12
(No camp June 19 & July 4 - July 5 due to holiday)
Cost: Ìý$2800
Time: 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. for lectures/didactics/workshops and evening hours required for project specific team/group work
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Camp Technology requirements:
- Microsoft office (Word and Endnote) installed prior to start of camp.
- Computer required
- Camp technology appointments are scheduled/required before camp begins to ensure these requirements are met by ALL campers.
Admissions:
Applicants are evaluated for admissions based on their academic performance in high school, test scores (if available: PSAT, SAT or ACT), AP courses. Admitted students will receive a separate email communication with instructions to register and provide legal forms for completion.
Admissions application deadline is February 7, 2025
Dr. Robert Smith - Camp Director
Dr. Robert Smith (aka McCullumsmith) completed his B.S. degree with highest distinction and Honors in biochemistry from Indiana University in 1990. He completed his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Michigan in 1997, and he completed a research track residency in Psychiatry in 2002. He is a recipient of numerous awards, including the prestigious ACNP travel award, the ACP Laughlin Fellowship, the ECNP Rafaelsen Scholar, as well as the Kempf Fund award from the APA. He has been continuously funded for the past 17 years by NIMH, with work focusing on the pathophysiology of complex brain disorders, including schizophrenia. His recent work includes using bioinformatics approaches to test hypotheses using large publicly available databases, with the goal of repurposing or first-purposing FDA approved drugs or library-sourced compounds, respectively. Dr. Smith is currently the Chair of the Department of Neurosciences and Psychiatry at The University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences, the Research Director of the ProMedica Neurosciences Center, Toledo, OH, USA. He also serves as the Editor-in Chief of the biomedical research journal Translation and is the Director of the M.D./Ph.D. program at The University of Toledo.
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Dr. Smith has published more than 130 peer-reviewed publications, and he has mentored 100s of learners, including high school, college, graduate, and professional students and postdoctoral fellows. Students he has mentored have attended Yale, UT Southwestern, MIT, UPenn, U Michigan, and many other top institutions.
Camp structure:
Teams: Team will consist of 3-4 student campers, one counselor, and one faculty member. The goal of each team will be to use bioinformatics techniques to answer an important question in Biomedical research.
Projects: Each team project will be selected in collaboration with the faculty member on each team. Projects may span a broad spectrum of medicine and will focus on analyses of large gene expression datasets to ask and answer important questions in a specific field. Each team will write up their project for publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. Students on each team will be included as authors on their manuscript.
2024 camp highlights
Summer Biomedical Science Program in Bioinformatics papers are in the final stages
of publication.Ìý Links coming soon.
The ¹û¶³´«Ã½ Bioinformatics Summer Program was an excellent experience and a well-planned
program. Through this program, I learned so much about conducting scientific research,
and I was so
glad to be able to perform research that makes a positive impact in the community.
All the staff and
faculty were really helpful and friendly, and everything we learned was fun and interactive.
As someone who is planning on pursuing the medical field, I gained a lot of insight
from the
bioinformatics topics of the program. Our group’s research paper topic focused on
Lyme disease, an
infectious bacterial disease. I thoroughly enjoyed every component of creating our
paper, from learning
about the disease in-depth to analyzing volcano plots on the genes expressed and regulated.
My favorite
memory of the program was analyzing the datasets of dierent genes.
I highly recommend this program to anyone who is looking for a unique and valuable
research
experience in high school or is considering pursuing any STEM related field! - S. Chen , 2024 Camper
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2023 camp highlights
Summer Biomedical Science Program in Bioinformatics published papers
O’Donovan, et al :
Hu, et al:
Ìý "Participating in the Bioinformatics Summer Program was an amazing and invaluable scientific experience! The faculty, instructors, and camp advisors were incredibly helpful, knowledgeable, and kind. I recommend this camp to anyone interested in pursuing STEM." - 2023 Camper
"I enjoyed doing actual professional research, it feels accomplishing to have found novel information that could alter someone's life for the better." - 2023 Camper
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