The Patrick F. Taylor Foundation awarded a $220,000 grant to The Department of Genetics at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Medicine. The grant will fund two medical research programs for students at the Patrick F. Taylor Science and Technology Academy and Taylor Opportunity Program for Students scholars over the next two years.
Under the grant, academy students will tour LSUHSC research labs, perform scientific experiments and be assigned LSUHSC medical and graduate student mentors to help teach and advise them during the school year, the LSUHSC press release said.
“The goals of this program are to immerse the students in laboratory or hospital settings, cultivate an interest among Louisiana students in medical and research careers, and to help these students to prepare presentations for professional meetings, all of which will improve their resumés and their future careers options,” said Fern Tsien, LSUHSC genetics instructor.
The programs will make science more accessible to students to spark interest in biosciences and give them real world experience to serve as a foundation for future work, the news release said.
 
—-Contact Kristen M’lissa Rowlett at [email protected]