LHSI Intern: Assistant Research Associate, studying insulin-secreting pancreatic beta cells to better understand and treat diabetes

Program Summary:   

This internship is offered as a part of the Life-Health Sciences Internship Program (LHSI). This program connects 125 IUI 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. Michael Kalwat

Department/Office: Medicine; Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Overview of the internship site: The Kalwat lab applies computational biology, molecular biology, and cell culture techniques on insulin-secreting pancreatic beta cells to better understand and treat diabetes. Pancreatic islet β-cell dysfunction is a central element in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes (T1D and T2D). Combined, T1D and T2D afflict more than 37 million people in the United States; over 11% of the population. T1D and T2D are polygenic with environmental contributions and result in hyperglycemia. In T1D, β-cells are eliminated by autoimmune attack. During T2D, β-cells fail to produce sufficient insulin under the strain of peripheral insulin resistance and glucolipotoxic ‘nutri-stress’. In both T1D and T2D, secretory stress can play a major role in β-cell survival and function, but the underlying processes are not well understood.

Our goal is to understand how β-cells handle secretory stress under normal and disease conditions to drive therapeutic discovery in diabetes. We have discovered multiple small molecules that alter β-cell function and have allowed us to model secretory stress responses and uncover novel genes that may be involved. We have also applied machine learning algorithms to publicly-available transcriptomic data from normal and diabetic donor human islets, in collaboration with Dr. Travis Johnson, to improve our ability to uncover key genes involved in β-cell failure during diabetes.

Website for more information: https://www.indianabiosciences.org/Kalwat-lab

Essential Duties and Responsibilities: 

- Cell culture and cell-based assays like insulin secretion and calcium influx

- Microscopy in human pancreas tissue

- Coding in R (if interested to learn) to analyze RNA-seq data

- Help keep lab tidy, keep good notes, and learn to discuss data and present findings

Work Environment and Dress Code: The work is performed primarily in a lab setting; with dress code casual, however shoes must be close-toed and no shorts in the lab.

Project-specific qualifications: Experience with pipetting, making stocks of chemical solutions, and aseptic technique is preferred.

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 IUI undergraduate
• 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.