LHSI Intern: Research Intern: developing new drugs and strategies for treatment of cancer and reduction of side effects

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. Joe Dynlacht

Department/Office: Medicine; Radiation Oncology

Overview of the internship site: Our lab works on developing new strategies to reduce the side effects of radiotherapy, as well as development of countermeasures to mitigate the effects of acute high dose radiation exposure in mass casualties after a radiation accident or radiological terrorist attack.

Website for more information: (Look up Dynlacht JR in a PubMed search)

Essential Duties and Responsibilities: Ability to conduct experiments with cells, tissues and mice​ using various experimental techniques after appropriate training. Ability to work under minimal supervision after receiving appropriate instruction. Ability to write up experimental protocols and results efficiently and intelligibly, and communicate effectively with others.  Prior work with rodents is preferable but not required.

Work Environment and Dress Code: The work is performed primarily in a lab setting with dress code requirements as typical for laboratory work at Indiana University

Hours per week: 10, scheduling is Generally flexible depending on needs of the particular experiment, but so as to ensure opportunities for supervision, we ask that students be able to devote most of either Thursdays or Fridays for conducting experiments, with some hours logged in on other days

Project-specific qualifications: Formal coursework in chemistry and biology, preferably cell biology, is required. Prefer students who will be a third year undergraduate during the internship period or a student who will be a second year undergraduate with previous lab experience.

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) 

·        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 go.iu.edu/lhsi and select between 2-4 internship sites on that application. All available sites are listed in Handshake and will start with the position title “LHSI Intern.”