LHSI Intern: Research in Inflammation: Allergy and Hypertension

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. Allison Norlander

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

Overview of the internship site: Our lab investigates mechanisms by with prostaglandin I2 or PGI2, a bioactive lipid, modifies immune cell function in inflammatory diseases. Specifically, we are currently interested in understanding how PGI2 alters immune cell function in allergy/asthma and in hypertension or high blood pressure. We use different tools and techniques to answer our questions including flow cytometry, mouse models, isolated human immune cells, and sequencing.

Website for more information: www.norlanderlab.com 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities: Working with mice, helping to induce allergy and hypertension in mice, helping to harvest mouse tissues and evaluate end points by different methods including ELISA, RT-PCR and flow cytometry.

Work Environment and Dress Code: The work is performed primarily in a lab setting; with dress code: closed toed shoes are required, lab coat will be available in the lab

Hours per week: 10; flexible within regular work hours

Project-specific qualifications: Dependability during experiments

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.