research projects for undergraduate medical students in india

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WHO ARE WE?

India is a country which contains hundreds of medical colleges and thousands of medical students graduating each year. A fair number of students actively involve themselves in research at a local or national or even international level. INFORMER, The Forum for Medical Students' Research, India is a step towards bringing those interested in research to a common platform.

INFORMER is an all India medical students' body aimed at advocacy and promotion of research amongst undergraduate medical students and to encourage them to present their research work at a national level by means of the annual conference organized by the forum. It is an institution comprising of a group of medical students who attempt to keep the spirit of research alive among the student community.   INFORMER was formed in 2009 in response to there being a lack of an advocate for undergraduate medical students in the country. Over the past 3 years, we have diversified base of activities which now include our annual flagship conference (Medicon), an online journal club,collaborative research projects, a research project mentoring forum, workshops which promote evidence-based medicine,medical quizzes, case presentation conferences etc.

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ICMR Short Term Studentship (STS) Program 2020 for Medical Students in India (Up to Rs. 10,000)

Deadline: January 27, 2020

Applications for the ICMR Short Term Studentship (STS) Program 2020 are now open. The ICMR Short Term Studentships (STS) are one of the most sought after and prestigious short term research program for the undergraduate medical and dental students.

Every year thousands of MBBS students from across India apply for this fellowship in order to acquaint themselves with the basics of biomedical research. The core subjects in which the STS fellowship will be awarded includes internal medicine, surgery, biochemistry, microbiology, pathology, molecular medicine, Community medicine, pediatrics among others.

ICMR initiated the Short Term Studentship (STS) Program in order to promote interest and aptitude for research among medical undergraduates to serve as an incentive for them to take research as a career in the future. The fellowship familiarizes undergraduate medical students with research methodology and techniques.

• The value of the studentship is Rs. 10,000/- per month for two months’ duration (Rs. 20,000/- only) and is meant to be a stipend for the student.

Eligibility

• Open only to MBBS/BDS students studying in Medical/Dental colleges recognized by MCI/DCI, before they appear in their final exams and therefore, interns/ PG students are not eligible to apply. Students of paramedical/non-medical courses may not apply.
• The student must carry out the research in his/ her own medical/dental college under the guide who is employed in the medical college as a faculty. Only permanent full time faculty members working in any of the Department of the Medical/Dental College where the student is enrolled can act as the guide. Part time consultants/visiting faculty/ residents/ Tutors/ Pool officers/ PG students cannot be the guide.
• Only one student will be allowed to work under one guide. Two or more students are not permitted to work on same topic together. Proposals submitted on the same topic by different students are liable to be rejected outright. The student may have one Guide and other Co-Guides. However, ICMR will recognize only ONE main Guide for all purposes.
• Indian National students who are studying in recognised medical/dental colleges of India can apply. Students who are holding OCI cards/ PIO cards/ NRI’s studying in Indian medical/dental college can also apply and copy of the OCI/ PIO/ NRI card must be submitted. Students from foreign medical/dental colleges are not eligible for this program.

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Click here to apply

For more information, visit ICMR Short Term Studentship .

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Fostering research skills in undergraduate medical students through mentored student projects: Example from an Indian medical school

• Centre for Cardiovascular Pharmacology
• Department of Pharmacology, Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal
• Department of Data Science, Manipal

Research output : Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Background Healthcare decision-making is largely reliant on evidence-based medicine; building skills in scientific reasoning and thinking among medical students becomes an important part of medical education. Medical students in India have no formal path to becoming physicians, scientists or academicians. Objectives This study examines students' perceptions regarding research skills improvement after participating in the Mentored Student Project programme at Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal Campus, India. Additionally, this paper describes the initiatives taken for the continual improvement of the Mentored Student Project programme based on faculty and student perspectives. Methods At Melaka Manipal Medical College, Mentored Student Project was implemented in the curriculum during second year of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery programme with the intention of developing research skills essential to the career development of medical students. The study design was cross-sectional. To inculcate the spirit of team work students were grouped (n=3 to 5) and each group was asked to select a research project. The students' research projects were guided by their mentors. A questionnaire (Likert's five point scale) on students' perceptions regarding improvement in research skills after undertaking projects and guidance received from the mentor was administered to medical students after they had completed their Mentored Student Project. The responses of students were summarised using percentages. The median grade with inter-quartile range was reported for each item in the questionnaire. The median grade for all the items related to perceptions regarding improvement in research skills was 4 which reflected that the majority of the students felt that Mentored Student Project had improved their research skills. The problems encountered by the students during Mentored Student Project were related to time management for the Mentored Student Project and mentors. Results This study shows that students acknowledged that their research skills were improved after participating in the Mentored Student Project programme. Conclusions The Mentored Student Project programme was successful in fostering positive attitudes among medical students towards scientific research. The present study also provides scope for further improvement of the Mentored Student Project programme based on students' and faculty perspectives.

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

• General Medicine

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• 10.3126/kumj.v8i3.6215

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• india INIS 100%
• schools INIS 100%
• Indians Social Sciences 100%
• Medical Student Social Sciences 100%
• Student Projects Social Sciences 100%
• colleges INIS 66%
• medicine INIS 66%
• education INIS 33%

T1 - Fostering research skills in undergraduate medical students through mentored student projects

T2 - Example from an Indian medical school

AU - Devi, V.

AU - Abraham, R. R.

AU - Adiga, A.

AU - Ramnarayan, K.

AU - Kamath, A.

N2 - Background Healthcare decision-making is largely reliant on evidence-based medicine; building skills in scientific reasoning and thinking among medical students becomes an important part of medical education. Medical students in India have no formal path to becoming physicians, scientists or academicians. Objectives This study examines students' perceptions regarding research skills improvement after participating in the Mentored Student Project programme at Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal Campus, India. Additionally, this paper describes the initiatives taken for the continual improvement of the Mentored Student Project programme based on faculty and student perspectives. Methods At Melaka Manipal Medical College, Mentored Student Project was implemented in the curriculum during second year of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery programme with the intention of developing research skills essential to the career development of medical students. The study design was cross-sectional. To inculcate the spirit of team work students were grouped (n=3 to 5) and each group was asked to select a research project. The students' research projects were guided by their mentors. A questionnaire (Likert's five point scale) on students' perceptions regarding improvement in research skills after undertaking projects and guidance received from the mentor was administered to medical students after they had completed their Mentored Student Project. The responses of students were summarised using percentages. The median grade with inter-quartile range was reported for each item in the questionnaire. The median grade for all the items related to perceptions regarding improvement in research skills was 4 which reflected that the majority of the students felt that Mentored Student Project had improved their research skills. The problems encountered by the students during Mentored Student Project were related to time management for the Mentored Student Project and mentors. Results This study shows that students acknowledged that their research skills were improved after participating in the Mentored Student Project programme. Conclusions The Mentored Student Project programme was successful in fostering positive attitudes among medical students towards scientific research. The present study also provides scope for further improvement of the Mentored Student Project programme based on students' and faculty perspectives.

AB - Background Healthcare decision-making is largely reliant on evidence-based medicine; building skills in scientific reasoning and thinking among medical students becomes an important part of medical education. Medical students in India have no formal path to becoming physicians, scientists or academicians. Objectives This study examines students' perceptions regarding research skills improvement after participating in the Mentored Student Project programme at Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal Campus, India. Additionally, this paper describes the initiatives taken for the continual improvement of the Mentored Student Project programme based on faculty and student perspectives. Methods At Melaka Manipal Medical College, Mentored Student Project was implemented in the curriculum during second year of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery programme with the intention of developing research skills essential to the career development of medical students. The study design was cross-sectional. To inculcate the spirit of team work students were grouped (n=3 to 5) and each group was asked to select a research project. The students' research projects were guided by their mentors. A questionnaire (Likert's five point scale) on students' perceptions regarding improvement in research skills after undertaking projects and guidance received from the mentor was administered to medical students after they had completed their Mentored Student Project. The responses of students were summarised using percentages. The median grade with inter-quartile range was reported for each item in the questionnaire. The median grade for all the items related to perceptions regarding improvement in research skills was 4 which reflected that the majority of the students felt that Mentored Student Project had improved their research skills. The problems encountered by the students during Mentored Student Project were related to time management for the Mentored Student Project and mentors. Results This study shows that students acknowledged that their research skills were improved after participating in the Mentored Student Project programme. Conclusions The Mentored Student Project programme was successful in fostering positive attitudes among medical students towards scientific research. The present study also provides scope for further improvement of the Mentored Student Project programme based on students' and faculty perspectives.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84868634733&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84868634733&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3126/kumj.v8i3.6215

DO - 10.3126/kumj.v8i3.6215

M3 - Article

C2 - 22610733

AN - SCOPUS:84868634733

SN - 1812-2027

JO - Kathmandu University Medical Journal

JF - Kathmandu University Medical Journal

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Lack of research amongst undergraduate medical students in India: It’s time to act and act now

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• Published: 29 March 2017
• Volume 54 , pages 357–360, ( 2017 )

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• Rajesh Garg 1 , 3 ,
• Shobha Goyal 2 &
• Kamaljit Singh 1  

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Participation in research is important in producing doctors with an understanding of evidence-based medicine. Though a mandatory part in post-graduate medical course, research has largely been invisible from the under graduation medical course in India. Very few research opportunities are available at under graduate level. The reason behind this is lack of encouragement, lack of basic infrastructure, facilities and structured mentorship programs, no extra incentives to researchers and the long journey to get academic acclaim. Another additional aspect is of lack of writing skills for biomedical publication. Additional incentives to students as well faculty members are required to foster the research environment in India.

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Garg, R., Goyal, S. & Singh, K. Lack of research amongst undergraduate medical students in India: It’s time to act and act now. Indian Pediatr 54 , 357–360 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13312-017-1104-4

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Undergraduate research in India hoping for a new dawn

Krishnarpan chatterjee.

Department of Medicine, ESI Medical College, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

Chetana Sen

1 Department of Medicine, Medical College, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

We read with interest the article titled “Short-term outcomes of a program developed to inculcate research essentials in undergraduate medical students” published in your journal.[ 1 ]

Integrating a mentored student program into the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (M.B.B.S.) curriculum would be a good way to expose undergraduate students to the basic methodology of medical research. But that will only be the beginning. At present, research methodology and biostatistics form a tiny part of the M.B.B.S. curriculum and is dealt with almost exclusively by the department of community medicine. The basic tenets of medical research as relevant to various specialties must be dealt with by individual specialities so that students realize that medical research can be successfully combined with clinical practice.

Medical research probably occupies the farthest recesses of the minds of not only medical students but also their educators. A study from Pondicherry, India showed that a perceived lack of recognition was the constraint in students opting for a research career among a majority of respondents.[ 2 ] This perceptual gap is the first impediment to medical research flourishing among undergraduates. All medical colleges should have an undergraduate research monitoring committee to facilitate and foster the spirit of enquiry that fuels good research. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has shown the way with their flagship Short Term Studentship (STS) fellowship for undergraduates.[ 3 ] But this scheme is limited in number and very few undergraduates are lucky to experience it. This scheme should be scaled up without compromising on quality. Individual colleges may come up with similar schemes for their students. All researches conducted under such schemes must be goal-oriented and the students must be encouraged to publish their findings. Seeing their articles published in peer-reviewed journals is the biggest positive reinforcement young minds can receive early on in their research careers.

Finally, undertaking research during M.B.B.S. must be seen a clear career progression pathway to students where pursuing research does not require leaving mainstream clinical practice. To bring about this, our postgraduate degrees must be integrated with intercalated Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees. Faculty positions at premier institutes must also be modified to accommodate this new breed of researcher clinicians. This is often seen in the developed economies where a professor of internal medicine also holds the additional charge of academic chairs in basic sciences and translational research. This is certainly the way to go forward.

Trends show that more undergraduate students are getting involved with research today than even a decade back.[ 3 ] While this is an encouraging statistic, the untapped potential among India's undergraduates is still significant and collective steps must be taken at all levels to harness this.

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Kathmandu University Medical Journal (KUMJ) , 01 Jul 2010 , 8(31): 294-298 https://doi.org/10.3126/kumj.v8i3.6215   PMID: 22610733 

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How to get involved in research as a medical student

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• Peer review
• Anna Kathryn Taylor , final year medical student 1 ,
• Sarah Purdy , professor of primary care and associate dean 1
• 1 Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Bristol, UK

Participating in research gives students great skills and opportunities. Anna Taylor and Sarah Purdy explain how to get started

This article contains:

-How to get involved with research projects

-Questions to ask yourself before starting research

-What can you get published? Research output

-Advice for contacting researchers

-Different types of research explained

-Stages of research projects

Students often go into medicine because of a desire to help others and improve patients’ physical and mental wellbeing. In the early years of medical school, however, it can seem as if you are not making much difference to patient care. Involvement in research can provide exciting opportunities to work as part of a team, improve career prospects, and most importantly add to the evidence base, leading to better outcomes for patients.

Research is usually multidisciplinary, including clinical academics (medical doctors who spend part of their working life doing research), nurses, patients, scientists, and researchers without a medical background. Involvement in such a team can improve your communication skills and expand your understanding of how a multidisciplinary team works.

Participating in research can also help you to develop skills in writing and critical appraisal through the process of publishing your work. You may be able to present your work at conferences—either as a poster or an oral presentation—and this can provide valuable points for job applications at both foundation programme and core training level. This is particularly important if you are considering a career in academia. You will also develop skills in time management, problem solving, and record keeping. You might discover an area of medicine in which you are keen to carry out further work. For some people, getting involved in research as a medical student can be the first step in an academic career.

Kyla Thomas, National Institute for Health Research clinical lecturer in public health at the University of Bristol, says, “my first baby steps into a clinical academic career started with a research project I completed as a medical student. That early involvement in research opened my eyes to a whole new world of opportunities that I never would have considered.

“Importantly, participating in undergraduate research sets students apart from their colleagues. Applying for foundation posts is a competitive process and it is a definite advantage if you have managed to obtain a peer reviewed publication.”

Getting involved with research projects

Although it is possible to do research at medical school, it is important to be realistic about how much free time you have. It might be possible to set up your own research project, but this will require substantial planning in terms of writing research protocols, gaining ethical approval, and learning about new research methodologies. Other opportunities for research that make less demands on your time include:

Intercalated degrees—these often have time set aside for research in a specific area, so it is important to choose your degree according to what you might like to do for your dissertation (for example, laboratory-based work in biochemistry, or qualitative research in global health. Some subjects may have options in both qualitative and quantitative research).

Student selected components or modules can provide a good opportunity to be involved in an ongoing study or research project. If you have a long project period, you might be able to develop your own small project.

Electives and summer holidays can also provide dedicated time for research, either within the United Kingdom or in another country. They can allow you to become established in a research group if you’re there for a few weeks, and can lead to a longstanding relationship with the research group if you continue to work with them over your medical school career.

If you don’t know what to do, contacting the Student Audit and Research in Surgery (STARSurg), 1 the National Student Association of Medical Research (NSAMR), 2 or your medical school’s research society may be a good place to start.

The INSPIRE initative, 3 coordinated by the Academy of Medical Sciences, gives support and grants to help students take part in research. Some UK medical schools have small grants for elective and summer projects, and organise taster days for students to get an idea of different research areas.

You may also be able to access other grants or awards to support your research. Some of the royal colleges, such as the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Royal College of Psychiatrists, offer bursaries to students doing research in their holidays or presenting at conferences. Other national organisations, such as the Medical Women’s Federation, offer bursaries for elective projects.

Box 1: Questions to ask yourself before starting research

What are you interested in? There is no point getting involved in a project area that you find boring.

How much time do you have available? It is crucial to think about this before committing to a project, so that your supervisor can give you an appropriate role.

What do you want to get out of your research experience? Do you want a brief insight into research? Or are you hoping for a publication or presentation?

Do you know any peers or senior medical students who are involved in research? Ask them about their experiences and whether they know of anyone who might be willing to include you in a project.

Box 2: Research output

Publication —This is the “gold standard” of output and usually consists of an article published in a PubMed ID journal. This can lead to your work being cited by another researcher for their paper, and you can get up to two extra points on foundation programme applications if you have published papers with a PubMed ID.

Not all research will get published, but there are other ways to show your work, such as presenting at conferences:

Oral presentation —This involves giving a short talk about your research, describing the background, methods, and results, then talking about the implications of your findings.

Poster presentation —This involves creating a poster, usually A1 or A2 in size, summarising the background, methods, and results of your research. At a conference, presenters stand by their poster and answer questions from other delegates.

Contacting researchers

Most universities have information about their research groups on their websites, so spend some time exploring what studies are being carried out and whether you are interested in one of the research topics.

When contacting a member of the research group, ask if they or someone else within their team would be willing to offer you some research experience. Be honest if you don’t have any prior experience and about the level of involvement you are looking for, but emphasise what it is about their research that interests you and why you want to work with them. It’s important to have a flexible approach to what they offer you—it may not initially sound very exciting, but it will be a necessary part of the research process, and may lead to more interesting research activity later.

Another way to make contact with researchers is at university talks or lectures. It might be intimidating to approach senior academics, but if you talk to them about your interest they will be more likely to remember you if you contact them later on.

Box 3: What can students offer research teams?—Views from researchers

“Medical students come to research with a ‘fresh eyes’ perspective and a questioning mindset regarding the realities of clinical practice which, as a non-medic myself, serves to remind me of the contextual challenges of implementing recommendations from our work.”

Alison Gregory, senior research associate, Centre for Academic Primary Care, University of Bristol, UK.

“Enthusiasm, intelligence, and a willingness to learn new skills to solve challenges—bring those attributes and you’ll be valuable to most research teams.”

Tony Pickering, consultant anaesthetist and Wellcome Trust senior research fellow, University of Bristol, UK.

Box 4: Different types of research

Research aims to achieve new insights into disease, investigations, and treatment, using methodologies such as the ones listed below:

Qualitative research —This can be used to develop a theory and to explain how and why people behave as they do. 4 It usually involves exploring the experience of illness, therapeutic interventions, or relationships, and can be compiled using focus groups, structured interviews, consultation analysis, 5 or ethnography. 6

Quantitative research —This aims to quantify a problem by generating numerical data, and may test a hypothesis. 7 Research projects can use chemicals, drugs, biological matter, or even computer generated models. Quantitative research might also involve using statistics to evaluate or compare interventions, such as in a randomised controlled trial.

Epidemiological research —This is the study of the occurrence and distribution of disease, the determinants influencing health and disease states, and the opportunities for prevention. It often involves the analysis of large datasets. 4

Mixed methods research —This form of research incorporates both quantitative and qualitative methodologies.

Systematic reviews —These provide a summary of the known evidence base around a particular research question. They often create new data by combining other quantitative (meta-analysis) or qualitative (meta-ethnography) studies. They are often used to inform clinical guidelines.

Box 5: Stages of research projects

Project conception—Come up with a hypothesis or an objective for the project and form the main research team.

Write the research protocol—Produce a detailed description of the methodology and gain ethical approval, if needed.

Carry out the methodology by collecting the data.

Analyse the data.

Decide on the best way to disseminate your findings—for example, a conference presentation or a publication—and where you will do this.

Write up your work, including an abstract, in the format required by your chosen journal or conference.

Submit . For conference abstracts, you may hear back swiftly whether you have been offered the chance to present. Publication submissions, however, must be peer reviewed before being accepted and it can take over a year for a paper to appear in print.

Originally published as: Student BMJ 2017;25:i6593

Competing interests: AKT received grant money from INSPIRE in 2013.

Provenance and peer review: Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

• ↵ STARSurg. Student Audit and Research in Surgery. 2016. www.starsurg.org .
• ↵ NSAMR. National Student Association of Medical Research. 2016. www.nsamr.org .
• ↵ The Academy of Medical Sciences. About the INSPIRE initiative. 2016. www.acmedsci.ac.uk/careers/mentoring-and-careers/INSPIRE/about-INSPIRE/ .
• ↵ Ben-Shlomo Y, Brookes ST, Hickman M. Lecture Notes: Epidemiology, Evidence-based Medicine and Public Health. 6th ed . Wiley-Blackwell, 2013 .
• ↵ gp-training.net. Consultation Theory. 2016. www.gp-training.net/training/communication_skills/consultation/consultation_theory.htm .
• ↵ Reeves S, Kuper A, Hodges BD. Qualitative research methodologies: ethnography. BMJ 2008 ; 337 : a1020 . doi:10.1136/bmj.a1020   pmid:18687725 . OpenUrl FREE Full Text
• ↵ Porta M. A Dictionary of Epidemiology. 5th ed . Oxford University Press, 2008 .

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Research Grants - Individual

Funding opportunities menu, clinical/public health research centres scheme-india alliance grant.

This scheme aims to improve clinical and public health research ecosystems in India to bridge gaps in human resource, supervision, mentorship, equipment, and administration by establishing virtual Clinical/Public Health Research Centres (CRCs). The CRCs are envisioned as research-oriented centres established with focus on major biomedical research problems and preferably involving multiple institutions.

Eligibility:   1.  The host institution would have clinical/public health research related infrastructure, provide protected time for trainees and mentors, and other direct research support in order to support the programme. 2. The participating institutions can nominate one PI and up to 3 co-PIs. The PI will be based at the eligible Indian institution. The co-PIs can be based either at an Indian or overseas not-for-profit institution.

Funding Agency: DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance (India Alliance)

Area: medical sciences, funding cycle: up to inr 10 crores (including 10% overheads) can be requested for a 5-year project. projects of less than 5 years and over inr 10 crores would be deemed ineligible., duration: 5 years, purpose: research.

What Premed Students Should Know About Emerging Fields of Medical Research

Aspiring physician-scientists should bone up on areas such as gene editing, nanotechnology and regenerative medicine.

Premeds and Emerging Medical Research

Getty Images | Image Source

If you find a field that interests you, don't hesitate to join a like-minded laboratory while training.

Premedical students aspiring to become physician-scientists will be tasked with navigating emerging fields in research and translating exciting discoveries into the clinical realm. Understanding the latest trends and breakthroughs in biomedical science is paramount for those hoping to bridge the gap between such cutting-edge research and clinical practice – a career goal for many aspiring physician-scientists.

What are these emerging fields, what should aspiring physician-scientists – including those applying to combined M.D.-Ph.D. programs – know about getting involved in these fields, and are there any pitfalls? 

This is an extraordinarily exciting time in scientific research, with recent breakthroughs in diverse fields such as gene editing, immunotherapies, nanotechnology, precision medicine, machine learning and regenerative medicine. Highlights run the gamut of the biomedical spectrum, including evolutionary genomics, novel neurotechnology, advances in cardiovascular imaging, cell-based therapies and therapeutic manipulation of the microbiome, to name a few.

Aspiring physician-scientists will undoubtedly be tempted to ride this wave of exciting discoveries and join laboratories moving the needle in these fields, many of which are still in their infancy. 

Premed students should be aware of these emerging fields, as these advances are expected to contribute increasingly to health care throughout the coming decades and will undoubtedly remain important for the duration of a lengthy career in medicine .

These fields are likely to hold long-term career opportunities for students interested in biomedical research. They also represent opportunities to contribute to innovation, be involved in groundbreaking discoveries and help shape the future of science and medicine.

Many emerging fields are exciting in part due to new or newly appreciated applications to clinical practice, with direct implications for patient care . By understanding these emerging fields, premed students will remain informed and up to date regarding novel treatment paradigms, new diagnostic tools and different preventive strategies that could benefit their future patients. 

Students’ research interests often evolve during undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate education. Many fascinating fields of biomedical science are neither new nor well known, and they deserve serious consideration. You will have multiple opportunities to change fields should your interests diverge at any point, so you should not feel locked in to the discipline of your first research experience.

However, if you do have a genuine intellectual interest in a popular scientific field at an early phase of training, don’t hesitate to join such a like-minded laboratory. 

Finding a Laboratory in Emerging Research Fields

If you are a premed student interested in an exciting field like cancer immunotherapy, genomics, AI-enabled precision medicine , etc., you may struggle to understand which laboratories would be appropriate and rewarding to join and a good fit for your career goals.

To start, assess the research landscape at your home institution through departmental web pages and note which faculty in your field of interest are involved in active research projects. Get in touch with a few faculty members and discuss the possibility of joining their laboratory.

As you learn about their research projects, you can also ask if they know of other labs in the same field that may also be of interest. Often, research faculty themselves are the best resource for understanding the current research landscape of the university, as departmental web pages and related resources can be out of date. 

Departmental administrators or undergraduate research coordinators may also be quite helpful in finding a lab in a specific area that would be a good fit for an undergraduate student. If you read a lay press article – especially from a local publication – about an area of exciting, “hot” science, pay attention to which studies and researchers they reference or quote. These investigators are often leading voices in the field. 

Use PubMed to find the latest work in a field or by a specific investigator. Explore the "trending articles" section to see which articles have had recent activity – a sign of a field gaining broad interest. If you find investigators doing work that is particularly interesting to you, use the "saved searches" function to get updates about their work directly in your email inbox. 

Appreciate that emerging fields are often a result of novel collaboration across disparate disciplines such as distinct subfields in biology and medicine, biomedical engineering or computer science .

Application of a known technology to a new field can also yield exciting advancements. A recent example is cryo-EM-mediated determination of complex structures, such as ligand-bound receptors, which could not previously be accurately determined.

Look for labs that are working in an interdisciplinary manner to tackle an important question in medicine or biology, and you are likely to find stimulating research in an important emerging field. 

Pitfalls to Avoid

Avoid presuming that only well-known fields with significant popularity and press attention are the only interesting domains of scientific research. The biggest discoveries often come from unpredictable places, and their genesis can be traced to less well-known fields.

Recent high-profile examples include prokaryotic genomics that spawned CRISPR/Cas9-based gene editing, and nucleoside modifications that advanced mRNA vaccines. This is characteristic of biomedical research and should lead you to explore various fields and meet with a variety of investigators to find the field, research and lab that most interest you. 

A few exceedingly popular fields – such as microbiome research, cancer immunotherapy , etc. – run the risk of becoming oversaturated, with many excellent investigators trying to solve similar problems. These fields can thus become quite competitive, with several associated challenges.

If you do join a competitive field, look for opportunities to do novel work that can separate your project from the rest of the crowd. A good strategy when selecting a laboratory is to assess which researchers are pushing the boundaries in these fields and are looking to incorporate interdisciplinary approaches, as they are more likely to be working in their own lane, away from other investigators. Use the same approach when selecting a project within your lab.

Medical School Application Mistakes

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About Medical School Admissions Doctor

Need a guide through the murky medical school admissions process? Medical School Admissions Doctor offers a roundup of expert and student voices in the field to guide prospective students in their pursuit of a medical education. The blog is currently authored by Dr. Ali Loftizadeh, Dr. Azadeh Salek and Zach Grimmett at Admissions Helpers , a provider of medical school application services; Dr. Renee Marinelli at MedSchoolCoach , a premed and med school admissions consultancy; Dr. Rachel Rizal, co-founder and CEO of the Cracking Med School Admissions consultancy; Dr. Cassie Kosarec at Varsity Tutors , an advertiser with U.S. News & World Report; Dr. Kathleen Franco, a med school emeritus professor and psychiatrist; and Liana Meffert, a fourth-year medical student at the University of Iowa's Carver College of Medicine and a writer for Admissions Helpers. Got a question? Email [email protected] .

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The India Center and Medical Outreach

By: Charlotte Gillis Presidential Advisor to International Medical Outreach at UCF

In December 2023, 15 undergraduate students with UCF’s International Medical Outreach (IMO) registered student organization traveled to Aurangabad, India for one week to participate in medical shadowing and cultural experiences. On the day of the students’ arrival at Sevankur Bharat hostel, they were welcomed by doctors and staff of Dr. Hedgewar Hospital with flowers and shawls. The students’ daily schedule at the hospital included shadowing doctors on clinical rounds, working with nurses in pre-operative and post-operative surgical units, and observing surgeries, including heart valve replacements, cesarean sections, and laparoscopic procedures. A blood bank tour offered perspectives on blood donations and lifesaving transfusions.

The students remarked that the hospital staff not only explained the healthcare system in India and how it differed from the United States, but also exposed them to Indian culture. The trip was an immersive experience of daily hospital life in India. Each day, the students sat alongside physicians and nurses to enjoy food in the hospital’s canteen. The students expressed that they enjoyed the canteen’s biryani, paneer, dosa, and chapati.

During the trip, the students also interacted with Indian medical students and shared cultural aspects, social issues and medical differences between India and the United States. Outside of the hospital experience, the students visited informal settlements in the city and a local free medical clinic, where they gained understanding into the vast social and economic contrasts in India.

IMO’s mission is, in part, “to instill in our members an ethos of multiculturalism and medical altruism that shall continue throughout their lives.” Through the hands-on experience in India, the IMO students felt the medical trip to India exposed them to new healthcare practices and offered understanding on being a successful healthcare provider in the future. The UCF India Center provided support for the students’ trip to India.

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Funding opportunities for health research in India - A technical scan

Affiliations.

• 1 Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth, Puducherry, India.
• 2 Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth, Puducherry, India.
• PMID: 33318398
• DOI: 10.4103/ijph.IJPH_9_20

Health research plays an integral part in scientific and academic innovation in health care. India, a rapidly developing country, showed a tremendous increase in the number of health research projects and publications in recent years. Given the broad spectrum of health research areas and a vast number of funding agencies that fund specific areas, it is difficult to gain knowledge about them from a single source. Hence, we scanned the various funding opportunities which exist in India for healthcare research. Various agencies fund health-care research on their thrust areas of national importance. Choosing the funding agency depending on the area of interest and following the guidelines given by them ensures a successful proposal for funding. This article enlists various funding agencies and gives overall information about the nature of support and fund provided for health research in India.

Keywords: Funding; Research and Development; grant; health research.

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EMCC STEM Students Pursue Pollinator Projects

Undergrads Study Wildflower Growth; Conduct Native Bee Survey

Estrella Mountain Community College (EMCC) STEM students are busy, busy bees having engaged in Undergraduate Research Experiences, or UREs this semester. Some of our Mountain Lions just wrapped up a study of wildflower growth across different soil types while others are conducting a native bee survey — two things that can’t live without the other.

The wildflower study started last fall when  Quail Forever , a wildlife habitat conservation group, donated a rather large sum of wildflower seeds to EMCC Biology Professor Dr. Catherine Parmiter to use in her classes. They couldn’t have come at a better time as her colleague, Professor Thasanee Morrissey, who also teaches biology and is the Program Analyst for the STEM Center, just happened to be looking for a research opportunity for her students.

They decided to create a URE for five of their students and the Pollinator-Wildflower Research Initiative was born. The goal of the initiative was to determine which type of soil wildflowers would grow best in, with the understanding that more healthy wildflowers attract pollinators such as bees.

First, with the help of their Life Sciences Division colleagues Drs. Neil Raymond, Rachel Smith, and Jarod Raithel, along with the Facilities Department, an area was cleared next to the EMCC Community Teaching Garden where they constructed 16 research plots with four different soil types — native soil, pea gravel, compost, and sand. Next, they asked the MakerSpace to create some appealing signage to mark off the area. Then they planted nine different varieties of wildflower seeds and turned on the irrigation. After that, they monitored the plots weekly and kept track of the plants’ growth with written observations and digitized images.

Natalia Quinones, one of Dr. Parmiter’s students who is graduating this spring with an Associate in Biological Sciences and then transferring to  Arizona State University (ASU) to study microbiology, said one of the reasons she signed up for the URE was to boost her resume.

“I hope that this experience will allow me to join other research projects when I transfer to ASU,” she said.

Dr. Parmiter said the selection process for research opportunities at the university level is very competitive.

“Gaining research experience at the pre-Associate Degree level is essential for students such as Natalia as she navigates her transfer to ASU and later to medical school,” Dr. Parmiter said. 

For this URE, Natalia and her lab partner were responsible for identifying the types of flowers in each substrate of soil and measuring the nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and pH content in each plot. 

“I learned more about plant growth and development,” Natalia said. “I gained more knowledge and new vocabulary about the subject. And I learned how to edit and rewrite procedures.”

Dr. Parmiter said Natalia’s field observations and attention to detail were an asset to the team.

“She is an excellent student researcher,” Dr. Parmiter said.

Natalia also works as a part-time lab technician in EMCC’s Life Science Lab, another gold star on her resume.

“I started as a student worker in September 2022 and the lab technicians were always patient and allowed me to make mistakes and learn from them,” she said. “And since they knew I wanted to pursue an education in microbiology, they educated and taught me skills that would apply to my field of study.”

Students who participated in the Pollinator-Wildflower Research Initiative will earn  Western Alliance to Expand Student Opportunities (WAESO) scholarships after they submit their research summaries.

“This scholarship is encouragement for all of the hard work that has gone into this project,” Natalia said. “It also shows that the school supports undergraduate students to work outside the classroom and gain hands-on experiences.”

Cierra Herrera, one of Professor Morrisey’s students who participated in the Pollinator-Wildflower Research Initiative, is also big on hands-on experiences. 

“I learn best when I am doing, and I learned a lot,” Cierra said. “I love to learn and put that knowledge into practice and that is exactly what UREs do.”

Cierra, who is also one of EMCC’s  Animal Ambassadors , will graduate this spring and then transfer to the  University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa . She plans to double major in Animal Science and either Plant and Environmental Protection Services or Marine Biology.

“I’ve always been caring and conserving before I even knew what that meant,” she said. As unusual as it might sound for a 10-year-old, I hated wasting paper, always recycled, loathed littering, and it always hurt me to see animals suffering, especially because of us, and when we can do something about it. As I continued to go to school and learned more about biology, endangered species, and why they are being endangered, there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to help these animals.”

Naturally, when Cierra heard about the native bee survey URE, she signed up for that one, too. A perfect complement to the Pollinator-Wildflower Research Initiative, the EMCC Native Bee Project officially kicked off in March. It’s part of a collaborative effort with community colleges in Arizona and California conducting surveys to find out how many different types of bees exist across the two states, something that is currently unknown.

“One out of every three bites of your food you owe to bees,” Dr. Raithel said. “We don’t even have a baseline to know how many bees we have. They are crucial to our survival, yet we know so little about them.”

The EMCC Native Bee Project began over spring break with Drs. Parmiter, Raithel, and Smith spending four days at the  College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, Calif., learning how to identify, or “key,” native bees so that they could pass that knowledge on to their URE students. Since then, they have begun teaching their students how to catch, clean, dry, pin, key, and photograph native bees caught on and around campus. It’s a lengthy and sometimes nerve-racking process, but for Cierra, the keys are the bee’s knees.

“Looking at the bee under the microscope is my favorite part,” she said. “They are majestic creatures and so beautiful. It is crazy to see the variation of bees in our lab! They are all so unique.”

The  National Science Foundation -funded native bee URE will last three years with six students participating each semester. The data collected will be verified and entered into  Symbiota , a public database, and each bee will have an identification number that corresponds to the student who keyed it.

“It is mind-blowing just thinking about the fact that a native bee that I, myself, keyed will go into a national database with my name!” Cierra said. “That’s absolutely surreal to me, but it is really happening. It makes me a little emotional just thinking about it because I see it as a big deal and I’m only 20 years old and this is happening along with my fellow peers. I can only think about my future and what it has in store for me.”

Cierra’s professors describe her as a problem solver who never hesitates to roll up her sleeves and dive into the action.

“She was like our wildflower research group’s secret weapon — always diving fearlessly into problems and asking all the right questions,” Professor Morrisey said. “With her sharp critical thinking skills, she was like the Sherlock Holmes of our research team! But what’s even better is her team spirit — she’s the ultimate collaborator, bringing fresh ideas to the table.”

Professor Morrisey’s students wrapped up their wildflower growth URE and presented their findings at the  Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science Annual Meeting on April 13 at Glendale Community College. 

“They did great and had a great experience at their first science conference,” Professor Morrisey said.

Cierra said she was nervous but ultimately enjoyed herself.

“It was really good!” she said. “One of the judges said our poster was eye-catching and easy to follow. He was really happy with our experiment in the design aspect — how we eliminated a lot of bias, controlled all of our variables well, and the quadrat sampling. It was really rewarding to hear that feedback.”

Are you an Estrella Mountain Community College student who would like to join the EMCC Native Bee Project or any other STEM Undergraduate Research Experience? Email Dr. Catherine Parmiter at  [email protected] .