October 02, 2026
Lauren Hillin, a biology student on the pre-med track at Trine University, gained
important research skills in her summer internship at the Wake Forest Institute for
Regenerative Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
The Charlotte, North Carolina, student heard about the internship from the National Science Foundation’s REU website and quickly entered a pool of around 600 applicants. Her application process included answering questions about her previous experience and writing two 650-word essays.
Of the 600 applicants, Lauren and 25 others were selected.
“I was excited! I had an opportunity to explore a new field I had never seen and make new connections, while also being close to home,” Lauren said when asked about the internship selection.
Lauren spent her 10-week research internship under a co-mentorship with Anthony Atala, M.D., and Weixin Zhao, M.D. She studied how to make blood-vessel-like cells from stem cells so that larger 3D-printed organs can develop their own blood-vessel networks and potentially function properly.
Cell differentiation
While in the internship, most of Lauren’s tasks were decided by her principal investigator (PI) before she arrived at the institute. Once she began, she received a stack of papers to read and provide her opinion on different aspects of the project. This allowed her to customize the project to learn the things she was interested in.
Because the research is limited on using placental stem cells for endothelial cell differentiation, the researchers employed methods that used bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs). They began studying which of the BM-MSC methods had a similar differentiation effect on placental stem cells. They then repeated effective methods to add new conditions.
“I ran the entirety of the lab work by myself after the second week of the internship, including media changes, imaging, staining and replating our cells into Matrigel for a tubulogenesis assay (which we use to see if the cells begin to form branches like a blood vessel would),” Lauren said.
She also attended weekly lab-wide meetings and presented her project progress. She completed the internship by giving an oral presentation and a poster presentation in front of the institute and guests.
“I loved the entire experience. The lab itself and the projects happening were incredible to learn about, and the way that my project fit into the bigger overarching goals of the institute was clear,” Lauren said.
She had opportunities to sit in at meetings, ask questions and learn as much as she could about the research others were doing around her.
“I also got to live in the Wake Forest housing with my entire cohort, so anytime we weren’t in lab, we were hanging out and doing things together — from going to concerts and hiking to taking a weekend to go to the beach,” Lauren said.
Applying her Trine education
During this experience, Lauren had the chance to apply several elements of her education at Trine. She was able to demonstrate her learning from her quantitative chemical analysis lab, where she learned about precision to reduce variations in results.
Classes like cell biology and biochemistry taught her what she needed to know about cells, cell growth and cell regeneration, which she could apply to her project and use to understand scientific papers.
In her professional practice class, she learned how to create scientific posters, give oral presentations and present scientific information in an accessible and coherent way. This was used in the end-of-program symposium at Wake Forest.
“As a pre-med, research is an important aspect that helps you to be a well-rounded physician. It gives you an appreciation for the work necessary behind the scenes to offer treatment options, medications and clinical trials. Medicine and research go hand in hand, and it was an opportunity to explore different fields of medicine and gain undergraduate research experience to apply in medical school and beyond if I work in a clinical-based research setting,” Lauren said.
Henry Gawron, a Trine University chemistry major, spent his summer gaining hands-on research experience through the University of Nebraska’s Summer Research Program (SRP).
What started as a hobby for Trine University graduate Ali Syed has blossomed into the sweet smell of success.
“When I first arrived at Trine, I expected to earn an advanced degree that would strengthen my professional qualifications. What I did not expect was that it would completely reshape the direction of my career.”