Students interested in Clinical/Rare Disease research typically work with a mentor in the Clinical Research Center (CRC) on projects that explore relationships or association between the cause of disease and current medical practice with the goal to enhance a better understanding of a disease or disorder. In addition to the independent project, students may have the opportunity to be involved with other projects that have an emphasis rare disease or rare disease registries, cardiology, infectious disease, neurology, or pediatrics.
CRC SRIP Projects
1) Identifying factors impacting emotional well-being in people with Bardet-Biedl Syndrome
Project Overview:
Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS) is a complex condition with a diverse array of features with the potential to adversely impact emotional well-being and quality of life. Prior work has identified hyperphagia, or an insatiable hunger drive, as one factor that adversely impacts emotional well-being for both people with BBS and their caregivers. Less is known about the impact of other features including vision loss, developmental delays, or kidney disease.
Primary research question: identify features of BBS that adversely impact emotional well-being. This investigation will be carried out using data collected in the annual interviews that are part of the Clinical Registry Investigating Bardet-Biedl Syndrome (CRIBBS). CRIBBS has over 750 participants with over 3000 interviews conducted. The interviews include questions about health as well as questions related to psychosocial well-being and quality of life.
Requirements:
Students need to have taken introductory statistics. This project is open to undergraduate juniors and seniors, and graduate students who are engaged in the following areas: psychology, nutrition, epidemiology, genetics, pre-med, biology, and/or physiology. Students will be performing literature reviews, analyzing data, and attending seminars. This project is either virtual or in-person internship.
Friendly reminder, the internship is a competitive process with an application, copy of transcripts, resume or CV, personal statement, and two academic or research references. See Frequently Asked Questions for additional details.
The application window is now closed for the 2024 session.