George Mason University 2024 Summer Internship: Data Analytics for Elite Young Scholars - Biology and Medical Science Experience

Total $3,600

Description

George Mason University 2024 Summer Internship:

Data Analytics for Elite Young Scholars - Biology and Medical Science Experience

The internship program consists of:

• Four-Week Internship Virtual Meetings – Sat, June 15th – Sat, July 6th 2024; Noon to

2:00pm EST; 9:00am - 11:00am PST;

• Weekly Research Assignment with Ph.D. Research Assistants’ support;

• Research Project Feedback and office hour, June 15th – Sat, July 12th 2024, by RSVP;

7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. EST; 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. PST;

• One-week on-site lab research (July 8th - July 12th, 2024) at National

Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health (NIH); Cosmos ID; George

Mason University - The Biomedical Research Lab (BRL); The Center for Applied

Proteomics and Molecular Medicine; Institute for Digital Innovation (IDIA); George

Washington Hospital (Ron Paul Kidney Center), etc.

• National Students Data Analytics and BioMedical Conference (NSDAB) (July 12th,

2024): Students will work under different teams to present their research papers

during the NASDAB conference. A committee of NIH, NSF, and BioMedical Industries

experts will select the best research project and top-performing team for scholarships

and awards.

O Each student will receive two tickets for family and friends to attend the

Conference.

O Hybrid option is available for out-state students to participate.

• Commute buses will be provided between campus and on-site study labs.

Program Fee: $3,500 + Registration fee $100 (only accept 10 students)

Certification: Students who successfully finish the program will receive a Center for

Biomedical Science & Policy (CBSP) Young Scholars Research Program Certificate of

Completion.

Program Summary:

The Young Scholars Research Program is tailored for high-achieving high school and

undergraduate students aspiring to delve into the realms of biology or medical science,

with a strong focus on advanced data analytics. Participants will have the unique

opportunity to collaborate with esteemed faculty members from GMU, forming

interdisciplinary teams comprising 3 to 4 individuals encompassing both high school and

undergraduate students.

At the outset of the program, students will be assigned to specific team projects based

on their indicated preferences. Each team is expected to produce two significant outputs

by the program's conclusion. Firstly, a final paper showcasing their research findings will

be published on the Center for Biomedical Science & Policy (CBSP) website and the Schar

School Young Scholars Journals Webpage. Secondly, teams will present their projects at a

conference where students have the chance to compete for prizes.

Throughout the program, participants will engage in hands-on research projects

employing a variety of methodologies. This may include but is not limited to, biostatistics

utilizing R or Stata, data visualization employing QGIS or ArcGIS, and network

visualization using tools like Gephi. The comprehensive nature of the program ensures

a rich and immersive experience for students passionate about advancing their

understanding and skills in the fields of biology and medical science.

Program Goals:

Each participant will lead a project with peers and advanced-level BS and graduate

students. Transit students become proficient in research tools and applications and

ways to incorporate data analysis into the students’ own biomedical context research

projects. The program will provide access for students to work on real data sets and

create solutions on real-world issues through professional data science, programming,

and statistics apps.

Specifically, the participants will learn:

• How to frame research questions,

• How to access to/collect necessary data,

• How to analyze data to answer the research questions at hand,

• How to structure and prepare professional reports/publication manuscripts based on

the data analysis results, and

• How to present your research outputs in a professional setting.

Program Benefit

• Earn experience and share views on the applications of biomedical research with policy

researchers, computer scientists, biomedical scientists, and industry representatives

during national conferences.

• Gain valuable teamwork experience and explore possible career paths

• Networking with nationwide awardees in Biomedical Science and Data Analytics.

• Develop and refine skills for resume

Research Projects Highlights and Features

Our Course Directors Dr. Jim Olds, Dr. Naoru Koizumi, and Project Advisors, Dr. Ali

Andalibi, and Dr. Megumi Inoue will lead students to work on the research projects in

the areas such as:

• Bibliographic analysis of biology and medical field publications;

• Spatial and statistical analysis to investigate disparities in disease prevalence and access

to medical treatment;

• Statistical analysis to infer factors determining medical and environmental policy

effectiveness;

• Network analysis to elucidate links among different bacteria, diseases and other agents;

• Biostatistics to identify optimal treatment regimens for various chronic diseases.

The final paper will be published on the Center for Biomedical Science &

Policy (CBSP) website as well as the Schar School Young Scholars Journals Webpage.

Scholarships: Each winning team member from the National Students Data Analytics and

BioMedical Conference will receive a $500 scholarship that can be applied to any

advanced-level BioInformatics internship programs at the Schar School during the

academic years 2024 and 2025.

Summer 2024 Tentative Research Projects Include:

Project 1: Health-related quality of life (QOL) linked to the gut microbiome in dialysis patients

Project 2: Determinants for international human plasma exchanges

Project 3: Trend for organ supply in the opioid crisis era

Project 4: Bias in Large Language Model (LLM) for Transplantation Publications

Project 5: Drug trafficking analysis using Network analysis and GIS

Young Scholars Publications:、https://cbsp.schar.gmu.edu/project-1-racial-sex-disparities-in-lupus-transplant-outcomes/

https://cbsp.schar.gmu.edu/project-2-optimal-immunosuppressive-regimen-for-pediatric-liver-transplant-recipients/

https://cbsp.schar.gmu.edu/project-3/

https://cbsp.schar.gmu.edu/project-4-gut-microbiome-and-kidney-transplant/

https://cbsp.schar.gmu.edu/project-5/

https://cbsp.schar.gmu.edu/project-6-kidney-sales-and-trafficking/

https://cbsp.schar.gmu.edu/project-7-viruses-and-host-membranes/

About the Instructors:

Dr. Jim Olds is University Professor of Neuroscience and Public Policy at George Mason

University. He served from 2014-2018 as head of the Biological Sciences Directorate at

the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), responsible for an annual budget of $750M. Olds’ former directorate funds the majority of non-biomedical research at

America’s research institutions. While there, he was also NSF lead for President

Obama’s White House BRAIN project, deputy lead for NSF on Vice President Biden’s

Cancer Moonshot and co-chaired the White House Life Sciences Subcommittee of the

National Science and Technology Council.

Olds also holds the position of Adjunct Professor in the Department of Anatomy,

Physiology and Genetics at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.

Prior to his time at NSF, Olds was the Director of George Mason University’s Krasnow

Institute for Advanced Study, Chair of the Molecular Neuroscience Department and the

Shelley Krasnow University Professor of Molecular Neuroscience.

Olds received his Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Michigan and his BA in

chemistry from Amherst College.

Dr. Naoru Koizumi is Professor of Public Policy and Associate Dean of Research &

Grants in the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. She

specializes in medical policies, particularly in the fields of organ transplantation and the

end-stage kidney and liver diseases. Her research focuses on the applications of

various quantitative methods such as biostatistics, Geographic Information Systems

(GIS), simulation and mathematical optimization to analyze various clinical and policy

questions related to organ transplantation and other chronic disease treatments. Her

projects funded by NIH and NSF include simulations and optimizations of organ

allocation (NIH-R21) and bed allocation in a mental health system (NIH-R21 & R01),

simulation of slum expansion in India (NSF) and mathematical analysis of illicit kidney

trade networks (NSF). Her grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation investigated

effectiveness of ICT-based interventions designed to enhance medication adherence

among Tuberculosis patients in India.

Professor Koizumi completed her first doctoral program in Regional Science from the

University of Pennsylvania in 2002. The extension of her doctoral research was funded

by the National Institutes of Health. Her second PhD (2005) is in Environmental and

Preventive Medicine from Hyogo College of Medicine, Japan. Before joining the Schar

School of Policy and Government, Professor Koizumi was a post-doctoral researcher at

the Electrical and Systems Engineering Department of the University of Pennsylvania

where she worked on various health sector projects in collaboration with the School of

Medicine. Outside academia, Professor Koizumi worked for several international

development agencies (IDB and EBRD) and in private consulting, participating primarily

in social and environmental sector projects in Latin America and East Europe.

Project Advisors and Leads:

Dr. Meng-Hao Li is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at George Mason University's Center for

Biomedical Science and Policy. His expertise lies in health informatics and e-health policy,

where he adeptly employs text mining, machine learning, and network analysis to address his

research inquiries. Dr. Li completed his PhD at George Mason University in 2022 and was

honored with the Joseph L. Fisher Public Policy Award. With a collaborative spirit, he has

engaged with over 20 scholars, resulting in the publication of more than 30 research articles.

Dr. Li's involvement extends to national health databases, including N3C, HCUP, and UNOS,

which collectively encompass data from over 10 million patients and hundreds of millions of

records.

Dr. Mehdi Mayebpour, Managing Director of Virginia BioAnalytics

Mr. Patrick Baxter is a Public Policy PhD Candidate and Graduate Research Assistant at the

Schar School of Policy and Government with nine years’ experience as a practicing quantitative

researcher. His current research focuses on domestic healthcare policy, and his dissertation

centers around CMS inpatient evaluation methodologies. He has contributed to research on

organ transplantations and other chronic disease treatments, ChatGPT sentiment, vehicle

safety, identifying drug trafficking networks, government partner selection and emergency

relief management since attending Schar. He has lived and worked in various countries over his

career, including Malawi, Rwanda, Indonesia, Mozambique, and the US. During this time, he

assisted on a broad set of poverty alleviation research topics. These include household financial

welfare, agricultural input adoption, family planning, maternal health, rural teacher retention,

tax collection, and community conflict resilience.

Mr. Zifu Wang is currently dedicated to his Ph.D. in the field of geographic information science

at George Mason University. Zifu has been working as a graduate research assistant at the NSF

Spatiotemporal Innovation Center, a collaborative effort involving GMU, Harvard, and UCSB.

Zifu has published more than 10 research articles in the domains of data mining, social media

analysis, cloud computing, big data computing, and natural language processing. He is presently

engaged in an investigation of the illicit kidney trade network through the analysis of news

media data. Additionally, he oversees the management of a computing cluster, encompassing

cloud computing, big data platforms, and High-Performance Computing (HPC) platforms.

George Mason University 2024 Summer Internship: Data Analytics for Elite Young Scholars - Biology and Medical Science Experience

For More Internship Program Offered