Collaborative WVU program introduces undergraduate students to world of vision research

For the past several years, West Virginia University School of Medicine assistant professor Michael Robichaux, Ph.D., has spent his summers introducing undergraduate students to the world of vision research through the University’s Summer Undergraduate Vision Research Fellowship Program.

The 10-week program is open to undergraduate students from institutions across the country and provides them with basic biochemistry and visual neuroscience research experience in areas that explore blinding diseases and new diagnostic treatment methods.

Students enrolled in the program are paired with a faculty mentor currently conducting vision-focused research in WVU’s laboratory space. Together, they run a small-scale research project which they then present at a symposium at the conclusion of the internship in August.

Robichaux emphasized that a major component of the program is the culture of collaboration it promotes, encouraging students to work closely with their faculty mentor and with each other as they share results, ideas and research techniques. He added that since the students become involved in in-depth research being done at WVU, that it is not uncommon for that collaboration to continue beyond the original scope of the program.

“Many of our students, both those from local institutions and those from universities around the country, will choose to continue these research projects and partnerships with faculty even after the internship concludes in August,” he explained. “This helps them as young researchers by establishing crucial partnerships with our faculty and aids us in our goal of creating an interconnected and collaborative community of researchers across several institutions.”

The program is co-led by Robichaux and associate professor Saravanan Kolandaivelu, Ph.D. Since the summer of 2022, Robichaux and Kolandaivelu have overseen great expansion within the program, which can be credited in large part to funding provided through a crucial National Institute of General Medical Sciences grant that funded the WVU Visual Sciences Center of Biomedical Research Excellence.

The program recently doubled its class size from four to eight students per year and has been restructured to operate similarly to a paid internship. Robichaux emphasized the importance of this growth, as it helps attract more students to WVU’s campus who bring new ideas and perspectives to the table.

“Having a diverse group of young student researchers on our campus and in our labs provides us with new perspectives on science, research and the understanding of the visual system,” he said. “It challenges our own ways of thinking and approaching research while also allowing us to showcase the wonderful tools, researchers and lab spaces we have here in Morgantown.”

Past student projects have focused on areas such as examining the effects that a change in lighting conditions has on the behavior of zebrafish, determining the importance of electric impulse retinal function and examining how changes in ocular pressure can affect the blood vessels in the back of the eye.

To learn more about the research opportunities available within the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, visit medicine.hsc.wvu.edu/eye/research.