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The Massachusetts General Hospital for Children's Digestive Disease Summer Research Program provides short-term support for students at the undergraduate or medical school level to perform an independent 10-week research project on digestive diseases.

Class of 2023
Class of 2023

Massachusetts General Hospital for Children (MGfC), with support from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, has established the MGfC Digestive Disease Summer Research Program.

This program provides short-term support for 10 students at the undergraduate or medical school level. Each student is matched with a research mentor to perform an independent research project focused on digestive diseases over a 10-week period during the summer months within a laboratory or collaborating laboratory of the MGfC.

 Highlights include:

  • Opportunities in immunology, microbiology, cell biology, bioengineering, biomedical imaging, genetics, computational biology and clinical research. Participating Faculty
  • Peer-driven biomedical course meets twice each week
  • Midsummer Career Advisory Panel discussion
  • Summer’s End Research Symposium
  • Salary support provided through a National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases-funded educational program

The collaborating laboratories available to summer students are selected based on having unique expertise in engineering and computational sciences that currently support digestive disease research projects carried out at MGfC.

In addition to conducting an independent research project to be formally presented at a summer’s end symposium, each student will participate in a peer-driven presentation-based biomedical course and a panel discussion on careers in biomedicine.

Nearly two dozen Mass General independent investigators with interest in digestive diseases serve as mentors and are willing to host summer students in their laboratories.

A wide range of projects and technical training is available through participation in this program, as students are matched with faculty based on interest. Research topics include obesity, food allergy, microbial pathogenesis, probiotics, intestinal development and maintenance, cystic fibrosis, celiac disease, inflammation, intestinal parasites and adaptive immunity. Techniques deployed to support research projects include advanced imaging, microfluidics, molecular biology, microbiology, computational biology, stem cell biology, immune cell isolation, in vivo modeling and patient-based clinical research.

The MGfC Digestive Disease Summer Research Program provides an excellent opportunity for science, math, engineering and medical students interested in acquiring experience and contributing their skills towards biomedical research. Applications are accepted until March 15th, and the summer program begins in June.