Summary: The LSOM Office for Research developed an elective to provide medical students with a practical basic science foundation to enhance their research contributions across campus. The elective consists of didactic lectures and hands-on technical training workshops that introduce five essential basic science techniques. In partnership with GSBS, we invite senior doctoral candidates and post-doctoral fellows to engage in this technical training opportunity as lead instructors for the didactic and technical workshops. All interested senior doctoral candidates should submit an application to be considered for an instructor position. The GSBS instructors will be supported with a $500 honorarium, and a LSOM professional development workshop to assist with course material development. 

Purpose: Develop didactic lectures and a technical training workshop to engage 1^st-2^nd year medical students. 

Research Topics:

• Western Blotting 101: Gel preparation, immunoblot transfer, antibody staining, and densitometry 
• DNA Amplification: PCR, primer selection and gel electrophoresis 
• Immunocytochemistry: Cell fixation, and antibody staining 
• Immunohistochemistry: Cardiac perfusion, brain isolation and slicing, and antibody staining 
• Fluorescence microscopy I: Capture images from the ICC and IHC-prepared samples 

Application requirements: Up to 10 graduate instructor positions will be available

• Applicants must have a minimum 3.5 GPA at the time of submission
• Thesis advisor’s letter of recommendation that supports the applicant's teaching involvement 
• Complete the short answer questions found in the Survey Monkey application

Instructor requirements: 

• Participate in a two-day professional development program to assist with course material development
• Prepare and provide a didactic lecture and a hands-on training workshop over a specific technique
• Participate in a didactic lecture on how to analyze data associated with a selected research technique
• Provide feedback on how to present scientific data and attend the group presentation 

Course Schedule: The elective will be available for a class size up to 20 students. The class will be separated into two groups. Each group will meet twice a month from August to the first week of October with a Friday afternoon lecture and a Saturday morning hands-on technical training session. The Saturday morning training sessions are scheduled to begin at 9:30am and last 3-4 hours. In mid-October, the hands-on Saturday training sessions will end, and the course will consist of Friday afternoon lectures on data analysis, a presentation workshop, and a group presentation on November 3, 2023. The course dates are scheduled to change if requirements and other external factors are considered necessary.