LHSI Intern: Research Assistant, Sankar Lab, Prostate cancer-bone metastasis

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. Uma Sankar

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

Overview of the internship site: Calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase (CaMK) signaling in bone remodeling and osteoarthritis. We study the role of a protein kinase, CaMKK2, in bone and chondrocyte cell biology. Loss or inhibition of CaMKK2 stimulates bone accumulation, suppresses inflammation, and prevents osteoarthritis in mice. Projects being pursued in the lab include understanding how CaMKK2 inhibition using a drug promotes healing of fractures, protects from osteoarthritis, prevents osteoporosis, and halts bone metastasis of prostate cancer

Website for more information: https://medicine.iu.edu/anatomy-cell-biology-physiology/faculty

Essential Duties and Responsibilities: Preparing solutions, molecular biology techniques, RT-PCR, cell culture, SDS-PAGE, western blotting, microscopy, micro-CT imaging, histology, bone histomorphometry, mouse genotyping, harvesting tissue from mice, etc. The intern will perform supervised experiments initially and transition to independent experiments when fully trained.

Work Environment and Dress Code: The work is performed primarily in a lab setting; with dress code casual with shoulders, upper arms, legs and feet covered for protection. Finger nails should be kept short for ease of picking up small specimens.

Hours per week: flexible based on student needs (10 maximum), scheduling is flexible within regular work hours

Project-specific qualifications: Good basic background in biology and chemistry. Some wet lab experience is desirable, but not necessary

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