The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) through the Office of Minority Health Research Coordination invite students to submit their application for the Summer Research Training Program. This program is specific to undergraduate students underrepresented in biomedical and behavioral research, including African American, Hispanic American, Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiians, and other Pacific Islanders. Successful applicants will join one of NIDDK’s research laboratories in Bethesda, Maryland or Phoenix, Arizona for ten weeks beginning in June through first week of August.
At the end of the summer, students participate in the NIH Summer Research Program Poster Day. This provides an opportunity for students to present their work before the NIH scientific community. Students are also expected to participate in meetings and seminars in their individual laboratories. In addition, with permission from their preceptors, students may also attend formal lectures and symposia, which are listed in the weekly "NIH Calendar of Events." The NIH Calendar of Events is only available for students working at the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland.
Research performed by the laboratories and branches of the NIDDK covers an extraordinarily diverse area but is unified by a commitment to excellence in both basic and clinical investigation. The basic science laboratories include outstanding groups in many facets of modern molecular biology, structural biology, including x-ray crystallography and NMR, cell biology, and pharmacology. Systems under study include viruses, prokaryotes and eukaryotes, including yeast and mammalian cells. Developmental biology is represented by studies ranging from those on cellular slime molds to those on mouse oocyte development. Several laboratories use the most up-to-date techniques in receptor pharmacology, natural products chemistry, and organic chemistry to study a wide variety of compounds, particularly neuroactive agents. Not only biochemical but also mathematical and physical chemical methods are applied to a variety of fundamental problems.
The clinical branches of NIDDK combine basic science and clinical investigation with patient care. Several branches study endocrine diseases and general aspects of signal transduction, including growth factor and hormone action. Molecular biologic and molecular genetic techniques have been used to elucidate specific gene mutations representing the underlying defect in a variety of diseases, including thyroid hormone resistance, certain forms of diabetes, and other disorders of signal transduction. Several NIDDK scientists have created transgenic and knockout mice models of human diseases.