M14 - US-Sweden Bioinformatics IRES: Best Practices for the Creation, Operation and Assessment of Undergraduate Summer Research Programs

Introduction: : This National Science Foundation (NSF) International Research Experience for Students (IRES) site centered around a common theme of bioinformatics and operated from 2021-2024. Students selected for this program spent 10 weeks at the Science for Life Laboratory (SciLifeLab) in Stockholm, Sweden using and developing bioinformatics tools to analyze ‘-omics’ (i.e. genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic) data generated from human subjects. Since the program’s inception, a significant amount of effort was made developing programming to prepare students for their research projects. Specifically, technical training sessions focused on coding languages and professional development sessions focused on scientific communication were developed and provided to the IRES students during the four years of the program. Lastly, this program had an external evaluation at the end of each summer. The focus of this abstract is to highlight the biggest lessons learned in conjunction with the creation, operation and assessment of this IRES site.

Materials and

Methods: : Program creation
The motivations for the creation of this research program were to maintain and strengthen the author’s existing collaborations with the host institution. The author was a postdoctoral scholar at the Karolinska Institute (KI) from 2015-2018 and then started a professorship at the University of San Diego in 2019. In an effort to maintain research ties with KI, the author submitted and received an NSF-IRES Track I grant. A portion of the presentation at BMES will describe how to leverage one’s existing network to create research opportunities for students, and how to navigate cross-border collaborations.

Program operation
The first three cohorts consisted of 6 students/year during the summers of 2021-2023. A fourth cohort participated in the program in the summer of 2024 during the program’s no-cost extension period where enough funding remained to fund two students. The program consisted of three main phases: (1) a 6-week virtual training series, (2) a 4-day pre-departure symposium, and (3) the 10-week research experience. The first two phases are aimed at preparing students for the research experience from a technical, professional development and personal standpoint to ensure student success.

Program assessment
A formal external evaluation was conducted at the end of each grant year. The evaluation process involved administering a survey to gather information related to student perceptions of all program elements and students’ perceived gains related to conducting scientific research. Specifically, URSSA survey questions were used to assess participant gains in research-related competencies as a result of their international research experience.

Results, Conclusions, and Discussions:: Program creation
The successful funding of this grant has allowed the author to continue working with his collaborators at KI, expanded the author’s collaborations to additional laboratories, and provided valuable research experiences for students. These outcomes are demonstrated by the publishing of 3 research articles and 4 conference proceedings. Importantly, 2 of these articles are co-authored by researchers that the author did not collaborate with until they hosted students for the IRES program. Additionally, as a sign of successful research experiences, 16/20 students presented their work at BMES and several are currently enrolled and/or accepted into bio-/biomedical engineering doctoral programs.

Program operation and assessment
Through the creation of this program, a technical and professional development training program was developed and optimized over the grant period. Specifically, over the course of the program, the author worked with each host lab to determine coding tutorials that would develop skills important for student success. Before arriving in Sweden, students were also acquainted with the work of their lab by reading journal articles from their future host lab and presenting the papers to their peers. Through the external assessment, these technical preparations were found to be useful by both the students and host labs. Additionally, professional development workshops were well received by the students. The main findings that arose from the external assessment was that coding preparations could be improved upon by more specifically tailoring the exercises to the specific project the student would be working on. This feedback was incorporated into the following years of the program where improvements in these aspects of the program were noted. Participants self-reported significant gains in four areas – thinking and working like a scientist, personal gains, skill and attitudes/behaviors. The only areas with moderate gains were related to the types of activities that are not always relevant to bioinformatics research, for example, use of instrumentation and making observations in the lab. These results demonstrate that this IRES program has been successful in accomplishing its goals and these experiences will be shared at BMES in order to guide other program directors on developing and running similar programs.

Acknowledgements and/or References (Optional):: This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Award No. 1951792.