Program details:
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Ten weeks
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Stipend $7,000
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Travel, housing, meals provided
Application deadline:
February 3 - March 3
(offers made on a rolling basis during this window).
Program dates:
May 26 - Aug 1
Research Experiences for Undergraduates
Summer 2025
Vanderbilt University
Physics & Astronomy
Research Projects: Biological Physics
Multidisciplinary Biomedical Research
(Prof. John Wikswo)
Students will work on various aspects of an ongoing project that is creating a fully automated, self-driving biological laboratory that utilizes artificial intelligence and machine learning to operate multiple microfluidic pumps, valves, and sensors as a robot scientist. The system is being designed to support basic systems biology studies of yeast metabolism and signaling, perfusion of organ-chips, and clonal selection, media optimization, and long-term culture of microbial and mammalian cells for production of pharmaceuticals and industrial chemicals. This Continuous Automated Perfusion Control Analysis System utilizes a breadth of sensing, fluidic, mechanical, electronic, microcontroller, machining, and assembly technologies and a variety of computer programs and microcontrollers firmware, all of which are worthy of study and optimization. Other possible projects include the continued refinement of a simple E. coli chemostat that can be readily constructed by undergraduates previously unfamiliar with the design and fabrication of simple instruments for biophysical measurements on microbial populations.
Probing the Physical Forces and Signals that Drive Morphogenesis and Wound Healing
(Prof.
Shane Hutson)
The forms of cells, organs and tissues are shaped and maintained by the physical forces and signals transmitted between cells – a process known as morphogenesis. Students will investigate these forces and signals during embryonic development and wound healing. Students will have the opportunity to operate our custom laser-microsurgery workstations, which combine real-time 3D imaging using confocal microscopes with microsurgical capabilities using pulsed Nd:YAG lasers. Projects include both experimental and computational approaches: investigating the responses of cells and tissues to laser-induced wounds; quantitatively analyzing the cellular mechanics of wound healing; testing hypotheses about the underlying forces of morphogenesis using microsurgery; creating image-processing routines for feature extraction from 3D image sequences; and modeling the dynamics of cells and tissues using finite element routines. Prior knowledge of biology is not required, but projects will embed physics REU students in a collaborative and interdisciplinary environment where they will learn to effectively communicate within a team of scientists who have backgrounds ranging from physics to cell biology to biomedical engineering. The goal is for each student to see what interdisciplinary research is all about.
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Vanderbilt Physics and Astronomy
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