As part of a continued collaboration, four Wake Technical Community College students will complete research intensive summer internships under the mentorship of UNC Cell Biology and Physiology principal investigators. 

The Department of Cell Biology and Physiology (CBP) welcomed four Wake Technical Community College students on May 19th as part of a continued collaboration to share in the culture of science. The four Wake Technical Community College students – Shirley Baltazar, Kaylyn Jennings, Milena Papayan, and Carla Moore – will conduct a 10-week-long, 20-hour-a-week research intensive internship in translational research labs in CBP.

The new summer program is a collaboration between Natasha Snider, an associate professor and co-director of graduate studies for the CBP PhD Curriculum, and Jackie Swanik, the program director for the STEM Academic Research & Training (START) program at Wake Technical Community College. Through opportunities offered by the START program, some of the students have prior experience working in microbial research labs as part of the Small World and Tiny Earth Initiatives.

To be selected for the CBP-Wake Tech research-intensive summer internship, the students had to demonstrate academic excellence and express continued interest in expanding their research skills in the biomedical sciences. All four students intend to enroll in four-year universities to earn their bachelor’s degrees after completing their associate degrees at Wake Technical Community College.

At CBP, the four Wake Technical Community College students will work on a variety of projects involving induced pluripotent stem cells, kidney research, and more under the mentorship of CBP researchers. Shirley Baltazar joined Phillip Clapp’s lab, Kaylyn Jennings joined Lori O’Brien’s lab, Carla Moore joined Natasha Snider’s lab, and Milena Papayan joined Kathleen Caron’s lab for the summer. If you see them around, be sure to give them a kind CBP welcome!