Undertaking independent research is a goal for many students. Now students at the INBT can do this with the help of the Provost’s Undergraduate Research Award (PURA). Provost Joseph Cooper (1991-1995) established the PURA program in 1993 with a generous endowment by the Hodson Trust.  The award allows students to work on an independent project over the academic year, with the assistance of a JHU mentor, to conceive, design, and execute the project. This encourages students to be creative and put their knowledge and skills into practice.

The INBT undergraduate recipients and their faculty mentors include:

Mia Grahn
Project: Three-dimensional assessment of structural changes to the pancreas with onset of Type 1 diabetes.
Mentors: Denis Wirtz, INBT co-founder and core faculty, Theophilus Halley Smoot Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and vice provost for research at Johns Hopkins University, and PhD student Ashley Kieman.

Jason Yin
Project: Rheology of a nanofiber-hydrogel composite with stem cell delivery for adipose tissue remodeling.
Mentors: Hai-Quan Mao, INBT associate director and professor of materials science and engineering, and PhD student Zhucheng Yao.

Yeongseo Lim
Project: Development of deep learning model to detect breast cancer cell nuclei in brightfield images.
Mentor: Pei-Hsun Wu, INBT associate research professor.

The full list of PURA award recipients for the academic year can be viewed here.