Research News

This summer, interns from Miami University received a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to work in a world-class academic medical center. Cleveland Clinic Research hosted five interns from the university in Oxford, Ohio, at Cleveland Clinic’s main campus to apply what they learned in the classroom to real-world problems.  

The internship opportunities were made available through Cleveland Clinic’s educational partnership with Miami University and the Discovery Accelerator partnership with IBM. Depending on their career interests, the students either learned from researchers in the lab or from administrators in an office. Cleveland Clinic Research offered the interns positions in Biomedical Engineering, Computational Life Sciences and the Chief Research and Academic Office.  

Several students elected to work in a lab alongside a principal investigator and mentors. Throughout the course of their internship, the students worked on a project to develop their skills as researchers. They shared their experiences and what they learned throughout the summer.  

Kelsey Knight, Biomedical Engineering intern  

What project did you work on this summer? 

Over the summer I had the opportunity to work in Dr. Vijay Krishna's Lab in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. I focused on quantum chemistry, primarily computationally modeling a molecule to better understand its properties for applications such as sunscreen development, skin cancer treatment, etc. 

What was the most rewarding part of your internship? 

While working on this project, I gained a deeper understanding of the intersection of computational applications, such as quantum computing and machine learning, and how those can be used in the medical field to accelerate research. One of the most rewarding parts of my experience was seeing the connection from the academic coursework I have been learning and seeing how I can apply what I know to problems that we face in our society. 

Gunnar Von Berge, Computational Life Sciences intern  

What project did you work on this summer?  

I worked in Dr. Daniel Blankenberg's lab on my project "Orchestrating Large Language Model Agents for Bioinformatics Workflow Execution in Galaxy." My research project has allowed me to explore practical implementations using Model Context Protocol (MCP), both server and client-side. It’s taught me how to better frame my work depending on the target audience. 

Do you have any advice for future interns? 

Interns should feel comfortable getting things started early. Depending on your field of study, you may bring genuinely new knowledge to the lab, and you should feel comfortable sharing that. 

Brynn Willard, Biomedical Engineering intern  

What project did you work on this summer? 

This summer, I worked in Dr. Xiaojuan Li's lab through the Program for Advanced Musculoskeletal Imaging. The project combined medical imaging, data analysis and predictive modeling, giving me the opportunity to contribute to research aimed at improving the detection, evaluation and understanding of musculoskeletal conditions.  

What did you learn while working on your project? 

I was able to see firsthand how concepts I had learned in class can be applied to meaningful research problems. I also gained experience working in an interdisciplinary field, learning how computer science, medicine and research come together to address complex challenges.