Southern Miss Hosts Biomedical Research Training for Undergraduates

Approximately 41 undergraduate students from across the State of Mississippi participated in biomedical research training earlier this month at The University of Southern Mississippi as a part of an Idea Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) grant funded by the National Institutes of Health.

The INBRE research grant serves to provide training for students interested in biomedical research internships from Southern Miss instructors -- Dr. Gyan Sahukhal, Dhritiman Samanta, Justin Batte and Jaclyn Williams.

“The purpose of biomedical research training is to boost interest for students and let them see how they can do biomedical research in a practical sense and expose them to opportunities in the field,” said Jamie Lott, outreach director for Mississippi INBRE. “Our goal at Mississippi INBRE is to increase health in Mississippi and also to increase research competitiveness.”

Justin Batte, a microbiology graduate student, said the training gives students the ability to learn basic techniques they need before entering the lab.

“We are teaching these guys basic molecular biology techniques that they can bring to a research lab across the state that they can utilize so whenever you enter into a microbiology or molecular biology laboratory,” Batte said. “There's very basic techniques that you have to master before you can do anything and so we are going through basic steps of cloning, how to use a pipette, a lot of simple things that are used in a lab.”

Britton Strickland, a junior microbiology major from Hattiesburg, said the training will help him before he even steps foot into a lab.

“It saves a lot of time if you learn the logistics of these procedures in a classroom setting and understand why you're doing it and how they work, instead of just watching someone do it,” Strickland said. “So it is very important to understand.”
Mississippi INBRE, directed by Dr. Mohamed Elasri, associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Southern Miss, is a statewide program that is supported by an award from the National Institutes of General Medical Sciences. Their mission is to enhance the biomedical foundation in Mississippi and to reach out to Mississippians in order to improve health throughout the state.

For more information about Mississippi INBRE, visit msinbre.org.