LHSI Intern: Muscle Plasticity and Pathophysiology

Program Summary:    

This internship is offered as a part of the Life-Health Sciences Internship Program (LHSI). This program connects 125 IU Indianapolis undergraduates per year with internships on campus with faculty and staff in a variety of health and science related campus areas/programs. All LHSI internships start in August 2025 and end in May 2026 and are paid $13/hour for up to 10 hours per week. Work-study is accepted but not required.  

Supervisor: Dr. Steven Welc 

Department/Office: Medicine; Anatomy, Cell Biology, & Physiology 

Overview of the internship site: We study molecular changes that affect skeletal and cardiac muscle function with disease and exercise. The goal of our research is to identify novel therapeutic targets to improve muscle health. We are as basic and applied research lab that routinely uses mouses models of human diseases and cell culture techniques to improve our understanding to inform treatment of human disease. Interns can expect to learn cryosectioning, histology, fluorescence imaging, pathological tissue assessment, and techniques in molecular biology to prepare them for graduate school or a job in biomedical research. 

Website for more information: https://medicine.iu.edu/faculty/44668/welc-steven 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities: Perform routine laboratory duties. Tissues processing, histological techniques and tissue morphology assessment. Opportunity to earn increased role in laboratory including state-of-the-art molecular techniques. 

Work Environment and Dress Code: The work is performed primarily in a lab setting with dress code: Casual, lab appropriate 

Hours per week: 10; flexible within regular work hours 

By the end of the LHSI program, you will: 

Carefully consider, explore, and articulate your career goals, including an analysis of how you arrived at that path and what steps you need to take next. (Community Contributor, Communicator) 

Understand your role and strengths on a professional team and analyze who you would like to become as a professional. (Communicator) 

Gain and strengthen skills relevant to next steps after graduation, such as communication, collaboration, teamwork, analysis/synthesis/evaluation, independence, confronting/challenging failure, problem-solving and perseverance, and constructive criticism. (Problem Solver, Communicator) 

Convey ideas and knowledge effectively through an ePortfolio and presentation of your internship work. (Problem Solver, Communicator) 

Set and meet your own additional learning goals identified with your supervisor. 

LHSI Qualifications    

must be graduating May 2027 or after (usually a current freshman or sophomore in Spring 2025)   

Current full time IU Indianapolis undergraduate in 2025-26  

minimum overall GPA of 2.0   

All majors welcome 

To apply: 

LHSI accepts 125 interns per year. All available sites are listed in Handshake and will start with the position title “LHSI Intern.” Complete the application for LHSI at go.iu.edu/lhsi and list 3-4 internship sites on that application. You will meet with at least 2 of these if selected for interviews.