Summer Undergraduate Internship Program The Summer Undergraduate Internship Program is designed to provide an immersive research experience to students interested in graduate study in the biomedical sciences. Interns complete ten weeks of full-time laboratory research, attend research seminars on current topics, and give scientific presentations to their peers and mentors. Interns also receive training in responsible conduct of research, laboratory safety and presentation skills. Additionally, interns are invited to attend career counseling sessions in which faculty and program administrators discuss graduate school and career opportunities for biomedical scientists. Each intern is matched with an appropriate faculty mentor from the Biomedical Graduate Studies (BGS) program at the University of Pennsylvania. Interns participate in the ongoing research in the investigator's laboratory and perform a specific, supervised research project related to the goals of the laboratory. Interns also interact with postdoctoral scholars, graduate students and other laboratory personnel. Mentors are drawn from over 600 biomedical faculty representing various departments and schools. The University of Pennsylvania belongs to the Leadership Alliance, a consortium of over 30 leading research and teaching academic institutions. Participants include Ivy League and minority-serving institutions, all dedicated to improving the participation of underserved students in graduate programs, and ultimately, research professions in the academic, public and private sectors. Interns in the SUIP attend the Leadership Alliance Annual National Symposium and present their summer research as talks. Summer interns will also present posters on their research projects at Penn to the other program participants, BGS faculty and students, postdocs and staff at the conclusion of the program.