The summer Undergraduate Research Program (URP) at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) was established in 1959. It provides a unique opportunity for young people from around the world to learn first-hand about genetics, cell biology, neurobiology, and molecular biology by working and living in a scientific community that is renowned for its research and educational programs.

The fundamental objective of the URP program is to give students an opportunity to conduct first-rate research. Participants learn about scientific reasoning, laboratory methods, theoretical principles, and scientific communication. The specific objectives of the program are to:

	Give college undergraduates a taste of conducting original research at the cutting edge of science.
	Encourage awareness of the physical and intellectual tools necessary for modern biological research.
	Foster an awareness of the major questions currently under investigation in the biomedical and life sciences.
	Promote interactions with laboratory scientists through an immersion in the research environment.

Approximately 20-25 students from around the world are accepted to the 10-week program each summer. Students work with Laboratory staff on independent research projects in the mentor's field of expertise -- specifically in the areas of cancer biology, neurobiology, plant biology, cell biology, genetics, molecular and structural biology, or computational biology.

In addition to their research, URPs attend a series of seminars and special events designed specifically for them by members of the Laboratory's senior staff. At the URP Symposium, held at the end of each summer, students present a summary of their research to their peers and advisors. Each URP also writes a final report, similar to a scientific abstract, to describe his or her project. In addition, URPs are encouraged to attend advanced postdoctoral courses at CSHL, organized by leading scientists from many countries. In these courses, undergraduate students have an unparalleled opportunity to learn the latest experimental techniques in different fields and to seek advice about their future schooling and research.

URPs live, work, eat, and play among CSHL scientists. They are invited to all Laboratory social activities, see a Broadway play, explore many of the tourist attractions in New York City, have pool parties, visit the lovely beaches of Long Island, and generally enjoy a marvelous -- and very busy -- summer. By the end of the program, URPs are well-equipped to decide whether scientific research is a career they would like to pursue. In addition to room and board on the beautiful 100-acre Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory campus, students receive a $4,000 stipend for their participation in the Undergraduate Research Program.

Any matriculated college sophomore or junior with a strong academic background may apply. The program includes young men and women from around the world and is open to all legitimate applicants irrespective of gender, race, ethnic origin, or creed. Selection is made by a committee of scientists at CSHL.

For further information, please contact the Watson School of Biological Sciences at 516-367-6890 or e-mail urpadmin@cshl.edu.

2008 URPs meet Jim Watson!

Byrne, M. B., Barley, R., Curtis, M., Arroyo, J. M., Dunham, M. (1998 URP), Hudson, A., and Martienssen, R. (2000). Asymmetric leaves1 mediates axis specification and stem cell fate in Arabidopsis. Nature 408: 967-971.

Salghetti, S. E., Muratani, M. (1998 URP), Wijnen, H., Futcher, B., and Tansey, W. P. (2000). Functional overlap of sequences that activate transcription and signal ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97: 3118-3123.

van Aalten, D. M. F., Chong, C. C. (1999 URP), and Joshua-Tor, L. (2000). Crystal structure of carboxypeptidase A complexed with D-Cysteine at 1.75 Å - Inhibitor-induced conformational changes. Biochemistry 39(33): 10082-10089.

Aizenman, C. D., Muñoz-Elias, G. (2000 URP), and Cline, H. T. (2002). Visually driven modulation of glutamatergic synaptic transmission is mediated by the regulation of intracellular polyamines. Neuron 34: 623-634.

Kim, J.Y., Yuan, Z., Cilia, M., Khalfan-Jagani, Z. (1998 URP), and Jackson, D. (2002). Intercellular trafficking of a KNOTTED1 green fluorescent protein fusion in the leaf and shoot meristem of Arabidopsis. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99: 4103-4108.

Volpe, T., Kidner, C., Hall, I., Teng, G. (2002 URP), Grewal, S., and Martienssen, R. (2002). Regulation of heterochromatic silencing and histone H3 lysine 9 methylation by RNA interference. Science 297: 1833-1837.

Volpe, T., Schramke, V., Hamilton, G., White, S., Teng, G. (2002 URP), Martienssen R., and Allshire, R. C. (2003). RNA interference is required for normal centromere function in fission yeast. Chrom Res. 11 (2): 137-146.

Esteban, J. A., Shi. S. -H., Wilson, C. (2001 URP), Nuriya, M. Huganir, R. L., and Malinow, R. (2003). PKA phosphorylation of GluR1 and GluR4 subunits controls synaptic incorporation of AMPA receptors. Nat Neurosci. 6 (2):136-43.

Song, J-J., Lui, J., Tolia, N.H., Schneiderman, J. (2003 URP), Smith, S.K., Martienssen, R.A., Hannon, G.J. and Joshua-Tor, L. (2003). The crystal structure of the Argonate2 PAZ domain reveals an RNA binding motif in RNAi effector complexes. Nat. Struct. Biol. 10(12): 1026-1032.

Govek, E-E., Newey, S.E., Ackerman, C.J., Cross, J.R. (1999 URP), Van der Veken, L. (2000 URP) and Van Aelst, L. (2004). The X-linked mental retardation protein oligophrenin-1 is required for dendritic spine morphogenesis. Nat. Neurosci. 7(4): 357-363.

Shi, H., Cordin, O., Minder, C.M. (2003 URP), Linder, P. and Xu, R-M. (2004). Crystal structure of the human ATP dependent splicing and export factor UAP56. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 2004 Dec 21; 101(51): 17628-33.

Chen, N., Harris, T.W., Antoshechkin, I., Bastiani, C., Bieri, T., Blasiar, D., Bradnam, K., Canaran, P., Chan, J., Chen, C-K., Chen, W.J., Paul Davis, Kenny, E., Kishore, R., Lawson, D., Lee, R., Muller, H-M., Nakamura, C., Pai, S. (2003 URP), Ozersky, P., Petcherski, A., Rogers, A., Sabo, A., Schwarz, E.M., Van Auken, K., Wang, Q., Durbin, R., Spieth, J., Sternberg P.W., and Stein, L.D. WormBase: a comprehensive data resource for Caenorhabditis biology and genomics. Nucleic Acids Res. 2005 Jan 1;33.

Chen, N., S. Pai (2003 URP), Z. Zhao, A. Mah, R. Newbury, R.C. Johnsen, Z. Altun, D.G. Moerman, D.L. Baillie, and L.D. Stein. 2005. Identification of a nematode chemosensory gene family. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 102: 146–151.

Boettner, B., E. Govek, J.R. Cross (1999 URP), and L.Van Aelst. 2000. The junctional multidomain protein AF-6 is a binding partner of the Rap1A GTPase and associates with the actin cytoskeletal regulator profilin. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. MSA 97: 9064-9069.

Rivas, F.V., N.H. Tolia, J-J. Song, J.P. Aragon (2004 URP), J. Liu, G.J. Hannon, and L. Joshua-Tor. 2005. Puritfied argonaute2 and an siRNA form recombinant human RISC. Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. 4: 340-349.

Song, J-J. N. Liu, N.H. Tolia, J. Schneiderman (2003 URP), S.K. Smith, R.A. Martienssen, G.J. Hannon, and L. Joshua-Tor. 2003. The crystal structure of the Argonaute2 PAZ domain reveals an RNA binding motif in RNAi effector complexes. Nat. Struct. Biol. 10:1026-1032.

Cartegni L, Hastings ML, Calarco JA (2004 URP), de Stanchina E, Krainer AR. 2006. Determinants of exon 7 splicing in the spinal muscular atrophy genes, SMN1 and SMN2. Am J Hum Genet. 78 (1): 63-77.

Nolan DJ, Ciarrocchi A, Mellick AS, Jaggi JS, Bambino K, Gupta S, Heikamp E (2004 URP), McDevitt MR, Scheinberg DA, Benezra R, Mittal V. Bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells are a major determinant of nascent tumor neovascularization. Genes Dev. 2007 Jun 15; 21(12):1546-58.

Aranda V, Haire T, Nolan ME, Calarco JP (2006 URP), Rosenberg AZ, Fawcett JP, Pawson T, Muthuswamy SK. 2006 Par6-aPKC uncouples ErbB2 induced disruption of polarized epithelial organization from proliferation control. Nat Cell Biol.11:1235-45.

Karginov, F.V., Conaco, C., Xuan, Z., Schmidt, B.H. (2006 URP), Parker, J.S., Mandel, G., and Hannon G.J. 2007.  A biochemical approach to identifying microRNA targets. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 104:19291-19296

Dike S, Balija VS, Nascimento LU, Xuan Z, Ou J (2002 URP), Zutavern T, Palmer LE, Hannon G, Zhang MQ, McCombie WR. The mouse genome: experimental examination of gene predictions and transcriptional start sites. Genome Res. 2004 Dec;14(12):2424-9

Vaughn MW, Tanurd I M, Lippman Z, Jiang H, Carrasquillo R (2005 URP), Rabinowicz PD, Dedhia N, McCombie WR, Agier N, Bulski A, Colot V, Doerge RW, Martienssen RA. Epigenetic Natural Variation in Arabidopsis thaliana. PLoS Biol. 2007 Jun 19;5(7):e174

Ehrlich I, Klein M (2004 URP), Rumpel S, Malinow R. Free in PMC PSD-95 is required for activity-driven synapse stabilization. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Mar 6;104(10):4176-81.

Iijima, K., Chiang, H.C., Hearn, S.A., Hakker, I., Gatt, A., Shenton, C., Granger, L., Leung, A. (2004 URP), Iijima-Ando, K., and Zhong, Y. 2008. Ab42 mutants with different aggregation profiles induce distinct pathologies in Drosophila. PLoS ONE 3:e1703.

Guo, M., Thomas, J., Collins, G. (2003 URP), and Timmermans, M.C.P. (2008) Direct repression ofKNOX loci by the ASYMMETRIC LEAVES1 complex ofArabidopsis. Plant Cell 20, 48-58.

Harris AK, Elgebaly MM, Li W (2006 URP), Sachidanandam K, Ergul A. (2008) Effect of chronic endothelin receptor antagonism on cerebrovascular function in type 2 diabetes. Am. J. Physiol Regul. Integr. Comp. Physiol.294: R1213-1219.

Daulny A, Geng F, Muratani M, Geisinger JM (2008 URP), Salghetti SE, Tansey WP. Modulation of RNA polymerase II subunit composition by ubiquitylation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Dec 16;105(50):19649-54

2008 URPs "Design Your Own T-Shirt"