The Summer Undergraduate Research Program provides paid internship opportunities for students to work intensively with faculty on research projects for ten weeks during the summer.  The program's goals are to introduce students to research projects in Biomedical and Health Informatics, to facilitate contact with faculty, and to increase awareness among undergraduates about this emerging field.

Biomedical and Health Informatics studies the acquisition, maintenance, retrieval and application of biomedical knowledge and information to improve patient care, medical education and health sciences research.  Students are expected to present their research projects at the end of the program in a mini symposium.  Titles of past undergraduate projects are available for browsing.

In 2009, we expect to offer 4-5 students positions with the following faculty in the Division of Biomedical and Health Informatics: Dr. Peter Tarczy-Hornoch, Dr. Nick Anderson, Dr. Peter Myler, Dr. Valerie Daggett, and Dr. Eugene Kolker.

Dr. Kolker is Chief Data Officer, Seattle Children's Hospital, and Head of the Bioinformatics and High-Throughput Data Analysis Lab at Seattle Children's Research Institute, where they apply interdisciplinary OMICS approaches to discover and model biological and biomedical systems.

Dr. Tarczy-Hornoch is director of the Biomedical Informatics core of the Institute for Translational Health Sciences.  Dr. Anderson is deputy director of this core.

Dr. Daggett leads the Dynameomics lab where they characterize the native state dynamics and the folding / unfolding pathway of representatives from all known protein folds by molecular dynamics simulation.

Dr. Myler leads the Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease. His team has also helped develop the "triTrypDB", an integrated genomic and functional genomic database for pathogens of the family Trypanosomatidae.

Applicants should browse the above web pages to get an idea of the breadth of work carried out by these BHI faculty members.  

Application materials are due on March 31, 2009.  Please note: Seniors graduating in the Spring or Summer of 2009 are not eligible for the program.  Admissions decisions will be made by the middle of April.  However, if applicants have other offers or earlier deadlines, please note these when you apply.  In some cases, we may carry out "rolling admissions" and accept outstanding candidates soon after they apply.

Application Materials must include:

1. A resume
2. Transcripts (may be an "unofficial" copy)
3. Application form
4. A statement of purpose
5. A letter of recommendation

All materials should be sent by email to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

OR by postal mail to:

Sandy Turner
Program Coordinator
SURP/BHI
University of Washington
Box 357240
Seattle, WA 98195-7240