LHSI Intern: Biospecimen Collection and Banking Core (BC2)

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: Ms. Emily Nelson and Ms. Alison Hughes

Department/Office: Medicine; Cancer Center

Overview of the internship site: The Biospecimen Collection and Banking Core (BC2) is working towards a world where we are no longer affected by cancer. BC2, a group within the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, focuses on bringing together patients, members of the community and scientists to discover new ways to prevent, diagnose, treat and ultimately cure cancer. We accomplish this aim through collecting biospecimens (e.g. blood, left over tissue from surgeries, tissue biopsies, bone marrow aspirates, etc.), and medical history data from individuals enrolled in our studies and providing these resources to scientists to perform their research. We have two main biobanks within our operations, the Total Cancer Care (TCC) Biobank, focused on collection of biospecimens from patients with cancer, and the Komen Tissue Bank (KTB), focused on acquiring and distributing normal breast tissue samples to prevent and to cure breast cancer. The KTB is a repository for normal breast tissue and matched serum, plasma, and DNA. The KTB not only collects, stores, and updates the annotations on the samples, but it also makes these samples available to scientists around the world who use them to conduct research that will provide insight into how breast cancer starts. By studying normal tissue, we accelerate research into the causes and prevention of breast cancer. The student intern will work with the Komen Tissue Bank and the BC2 staff on various projects, including data collection from participants, record requests, data processing and clean up, sample quality control, assist with preparations for and to participate in tissue collection events, and educational events and festivals.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Data collection and quality control
• Sample collection and processing
• Administrative/regulatory support
• requesting and de-identifying mammograms
• calculating breast cancer risk scores
• calling participants for follow up information
• attending festivals and events to recruit volunteers and participants to our clinical trial
• general office duties as needed

Work Environment and Dress Code: The work is performed primarily in an office with dress code business casual dress code, and in a lab with dress code scrubs

Hours per week: 10, scheduling is flexible within regular work hours

Project-specific qualifications:

• Attention to detail
• Effective communication with strong communication skills
• Eagerness to learn
• Self-starter

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.