Research Opportunities on Neurodegeneration, Genomics, and Bioinformatics

Mentor Areas

Personalized mentorship from Dr. Yuyan Cheng and experienced bioinformaticians.
Opportunities to develop advanced computational and analytical skills.
A supportive and collaborative research environment.
Potential for co-authorship on scientific publications.
Experience that prepares you for a career in biomedical research or data science.

Description:

The Cheng Lab at Penn Medicine uses data science to drive biological discovery. Our research combines AI and genomics to study disease mechanisms, identify biomarkers, and develop new therapeutics. More information about our work can be found on our website.

We are looking for talented undergraduate students with a strong background in computer science and a deep interest in applying computational methods to health-related questions. Students will have the opportunity to use AI tools to analyze single-cell and spatial transcriptomics data from healthy and neurologically diseased tissues.

Preferred Qualifications

Current undergraduate student majoring in Computer Science, Computational Biology, or a related field.
Proficiency in Python or R, Linux/Unix.
Enthusiasm for biomedical data and a strong interest in computational biology.
Prior experience working with foundation models or deep neural networks is preferred.
Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and organizational skills.
Ability to commit a minimum of 8 hours per week during the academic year, and 20 hours per week if enrolled in a summer program.

Project Website

Learn more about the researcher and/or the project here.
Cheng Lab

Details:

Preferred Student Year

First-year, Second-Year, Junior, Senior

Academic Term

Fall, Spring, Summer

I prefer to have students start during the above term(s).

Volunteer

Yes

Yes indicates that faculty are open to volunteers.

Paid

Yes

Yes indicates that faculty are open to paying students they engage in their research, regardless of their work-study eligibility.