Career Center

About Us:

We are a leading research institution committed to advancing scientific knowledge and innovation. Our team is dedicated to conducting cutting-edge research and providing meaningful learning opportunities for aspiring scientists. Join us and contribute to our mission while gaining invaluable experience in a dynamic and collaborative environment.

Principal Investigator, Nirmala Mavila, PhD invites you to consider this great opportunity to join her dynamic team!

Overview of Department & Mentor
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center has one of the largest state-of-the-art clinical, basic research and core facilities funded by an NIH grant and provide specialized basic and clinical research services. Research activities within the Karsh division of Digestive and Liver Diseases range from investigating the molecular mechanism of liver cancer development, fibrosis, alcoholic liver disease, cholestasis, liver injury and regeneration and liver cancer stem cells. Our group hosts weekly conferences, courses, and research meetings to facilitate discussion and enhance knowledge in liver biology. The Mavila laboratory is interested in the signaling pathways dysregulated in liver cancer cells, liver injury, regeneration, fibrosis and cholestatic liver disease. Our projects range from basic research utilizing various mouse models of liver injury, regeneration and liver cancer, liver fibrosis, mammalian cell culture (mouse and human), advanced molecular/cell biology techniques (Protein and RNA extractions, qPCR, Western blot, Immunohistochemistry, Confocal microscopy, protein overexpression and gene silencing in mammalian cells, Isolation of primary liver cells and its culture, liver and intestinal organoids) as well as analyzing clinically relevant human biopsy specimens to translate the basic research findings.

Role Summary & Objectives
Propose to investigate the molecular mechanism of liver injury, fibrosis, and cancer using various biochemical and molecular, and cell biology techniques. Intern will learn about various basic research techniques involved in advanced laboratory research, how to plan, execute experiments, interpret research data, learn about its translational significance and related literature search.
By the end of the internship the trainee expected to gain a thorough knowledge in molecular and biochemical methods and its applications in biomedical research.

Internship Goals & Objectives:
?    Gain knowledge and understanding of research techniques used in a biomedical research laboratory.
?    Gain knowledge and understanding of scientific terminologies, independently perform experiments and accurately analyze the research data.
?    Gain the ability to communicate and present scientific research data effectively.

Explore potential career opportunities in the biomedical research field or advance to higher education in Medicine or biomedical research.

Role Activities & Timeline
Intern will learn about multiple basic research techniques involved in laboratory research, how to plan, execute experiments and interpret and present research data. All activities will be carried out at Cedars-Sinai research labs.

1.    Orientation to Dept and overview of research area (1-2 weeks).
2.    Introduction of laboratory safety. (1-4 weeks).
3.    Review & understand study protocol with supervisor. Complete CITI training. (1-4 weeks).
4.    Learn how to read scholarly papers. (3-10 weeks).
5.    Introduction of laboratory techniques and how to collect reproducible data. (5-6 weeks).
6.    Learn about laboratory experiments and trouble shooting. (5-10 weeks).
7.    Introduction to data analysis using software (Excel, GraphPad, ImageJ). (5-6 weeks).
8.    Perform and Analysis of Laboratory experiments. (5-10 weeks).
9.    Data Presentation at the lab meetings/Cedars-Sinai/UCLA undergraduate Research symposiums.

Required Education & Experience 
?    Must be 18 years of age or older.
?    Must have a HS Diploma or GED.
?    Must reside in the greater Los Angeles area or surrounding cities while conducting all activities related to the intern or visitor appointment.
?    INTERNS: Those participating for academic credit must receive academic credit for the duration of the internship. 
?    VISITORS: Must be receiving funding from an eligible sponsoring institution (employer, educator, funder, etc.).

Preferred Education & Experience
1st or 2nd year undergraduate student majoring in any areas of Biology, Biomedical Science, or Pre-Med who plans to continue internship during academic year.