PENNLAB SUMMER INTERNSHIP

PLSI Mentors

The PennLab Summer Internship experience includes working directly with a mentor to conduct a research project, professional development workshops, participating in lab and social engagements, and a final research presentation.

Accepted interns will be paired with one of the below-mentioned mentors.
(Click on the mentors’ names to view their full profile.)

Emma E. Furth, MD
Hypothesis-driven studies in the areas of inflammatory and neoplastic diseases of the Gastrointestinal Tract, Liver, and Pancreas are carried out. We work with human and mouse tissues utilizing multiple immunohistochemistry and special stains. Digital Pathology coupled with quantitative image analysis of these tissues and stains allows data extraction and subsequent analysis. We are studying the tumor microenvironment in pancreas and liver cancer, the changes that occur with treatment, and the correlation of these features with novel Radiology Imaging tools and clinical outcomes. Application of Image Analytic tools are also applied to create novel Quality Assurance platforms for the Clinical Laboratory.

F. Bradley Johnson, MD, PhD
Our lab studies how aging contributes to the pathogenesis of diseases. We are particularly interested in how changes in telomere structure and function impact the development of degenerative diseases and cancer. Currently, we are focused on three questions:

1) What are the cellular responses to telomere damage in stem cells?
2) How do short telomeres elevate the risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease?
3) How do short telomeres drive the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis?
 
To address these questions, we study human pathologic specimens, cultured induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and tissue organoid cultures derived from the directed differentiation of normal and CRISPR-edited iPSCs.


Michael C. Milone, MD, PhD
My research is focused on immunology and genetic engineering of immune cells for the treatment of cancer and immune-mediated disease. In particular, my laboratory focuses on T cell-based cellular therapies that employ synthetic immune receptors such as chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) that are used to engineer T cells with novel antigenic specificities. Basic coursework in cell & molecular biology, as well as immunology, is helpful.