Sowing the seeds of future excellence in biomedical science

CTRC tour.

Published August 13, 2018 This content is archived.

Workforce Development core helps introduce high school students to CTRC

The Young Scientist Research Program is a two-week immersive summer school program conducted by the Biology Department at Canisius College for local high school students who may be considering science majors in college. 

The Workforce Development core of UB’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) teamed up with counterparts at Canisius College to bring 14 students to visit the Clinical and Translational Research Center (CTRC) as part of the course. The students, all of whom have completed one year of biology, get to explore careers in biomedicine, clinical research and ecology.

“Students who complete the program can decide whether a science major is the right path for them,” said Sandra Ocampos, MS, assistant director at Canisius. “They get to dissect sheep brains, survey aquatic life in Lake Erie, lots of fun stuff. We hope they’ll realize how laboratory research contributes to the development of treatments for disease and improved health outcomes.”

As part of their tour of the CTRC, students heard from present and former CTSI Buffalo Translational Scholars Jason Muhitch, PhD, assistant professor of oncology at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Umesh Sharma, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine in UB’s Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

David Poulsen, PhD, professor of translational neurosurgery in the Jacobs School, spoke about his career path leading up to groundbreaking research into treatments for traumatic brain injury.

The Young Scientist Research Program has been funded annually since 1986 by B. Dale Wilson, MD, who received his medical degree from UB in 1975.