NIH grant gives underrepresented students insight into the neurosciences at UC

However, if Gabrielle Allen and Christina Singh, undergraduate students visiting UC, were to write their summer essay, it would be about a knowledge-filled adventure with complete strangers, in the landlocked city of Cincinnati. 

That’s because Allen, a third-year student at the University of Georgia, and Singh, a fourth-year student at St. Edward’s University in Texas, spent 10 weeks at the University of Cincinnati this summer interning in neuroscience laboratories as participants in UC’s new program, called RISE UP or Research Innovation in NeuroScience Education for Underserved Populations.

The program,  funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), provides underrepresented undergraduates from across the country the opportunity to come to Cincinnati and be mentored by top researchers in the neurosciences — at either the University of Cincinnati or at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

“The goal is to have them stay in the neuroscience pipeline, but ultimately we want to attract them to UC,” says the program’s co-director Matia Solomon, an associate professor in UC’s Department of Psychology. Solomon, and co-director Teresa M. Reyes, a professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Systems Physiology, say they applied for the grant based on the success of another program:   UC’s SURF (Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship) neuroscience program, which is funded internally and is also geared toward attracting undergraduate students to continue study at UC in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields.

“In both programs [RISE-UP and SURF-Neuro) the core components are an intensive research experience coupled with professional development workshops,” says Reyes, noting that students intern in neuroscience labs studying diseases of the brain, such as Alzheimer’s, epilepsy and depression.

The new $528,000, five-year, RISE UP grant covers all the expenses for approximately 10 students per year, from underrepresented populations, disadvantaged students or first-generation college attendees. Additionally, outside of the lab, students attend medical science lectures given by UC faculty and life skills workshops and have opportunities to explore the city. “Students from these backgrounds don’t tend to stay in the STEM disciplines, so hopefully this exposure piques their interest to continue,” says Solomon.

“We’ve been so fortunate to have the enthusiastic participation of the mentors. We couldn’t do it without them. It’s a community effort,” says Reyes. The bulk of the research training falls to the primary lab mentors, who introduce students to lab procedures, research methodology and analysis.