LHSI Intern: Intern for Research in Allergy

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 Joan Cook-Mills

Department/Office: Medicine; Pediatrics

Overview of the internship site: Dr Cook-Mills’ research interests are on mechanisms for development of allergic disease/asthma and food allergy in neonates and children of allergic mothers. Using models and human blood samples, studies focus on determining mechanisms for early life development and recruitment of immune cells (dendritic cells, mast cells, eosinophils) that promote allergic disease. Studies are underway examining lipids of allergic mothers that are transported across the placenta to the fetus to regulate development of the immune system, including specific subsets of dendritic cells in the fetus. These maternal lipids are from the mother’s diet and generated by the mother during allergic responses. Studies in the lab have also recently determined how food allergy develops in neonates by a combination of skin exposures and genetics. Ongoing studies on food allergy will determine what signals in skin promote the development of food allergy as potential targets for therapy.

Website for more information: https://medicine.iu.edu/faculty/42952/cook-mills-joan

Essential Duties and Responsibilities: Typical tasks may include genotyping, analysis of gene expression by qPCR, treatment of mice with allergens, or analysis of data sets. These will be taught to the student by lab members that are experts in these techniques. Several projects on development of allergy are available and will be selected with the student to fit their interests and schedule.

Work Environment and Dress Code: The work is performed primarily in a lab setting and an office setting; with dress code long pants (no shorts) and closed toe shoes

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

Project-specific qualifications: Qualities of applicant should include some laboratory skills such as pipetting and calculations of concentrations for solutions. Also expectations include high accuracy and attention to detail.

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.