The two CTBP Summer Intern programs, Opportunities for Research in Biophysics, Informatics, and Theoretical Science (ORBITS) and Frontiers in Science (FIS), held their end of program poster session on Monday, July 29. The seven FIS students and nine ORBITS students presented to faculty, postdocs, grad students, peers and family during the two hour session.The students spent 10 weeks performing research under the guidance of their mentors. Many of the projects involved computer modeling of biological processes such as protein folding or DNA binding to chromosomes. Not only did the students need to learn about the biology involved in their project, they also needed to learn the techniques needed to study their topic.

Both groups of students gathered each Friday during the ten weeks for a lunch discussion. These discussions generally focused on graduate school, including what graduate school is like, applying, and being successful in research. Additionally, students received instruction on scientific writing and presentations, which served them well for the poster session.

The winning poster for the session was co-presented by Ragini Mahajan and Victory Okafor, who were mentored by Brian St. Hilaire in Dr. Erez Aiden’s laboratory at the Baylor College of Medicine.