Neurodevelopmental Disorders Phenotyping Lab

Undergraduate Student Internship
Neurodevelopmental Disorders Phenotyping Laboratory
Developmental Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital

Contact: Dr. Amy Young, Lab Supervisor
Email: amy.young@childrens.harvard.edu
Lab Internships: Part-Time in the Fall and Spring; Full Time in the Summer

At the Neurodevelopmental Disorders Phenotyping Laboratory, we are looking for rising Juniors and Seniors who have completed coursework in psychology or neuroscience. Ideally, students should have prior research experience in any type of lab, some statistics knowledge, and formal or informal experience working with children.  You do not need specific background in phenotyping or neurodevelopmental disorders, although these are both a plus. We offer internships in the Fall, Spring, and Summer.

The Neurodevelopmental Disorders Phenotyping Laboratory manages multiple studies that specialize in phenotyping neurodevelopmental disorders. For example, there are many neurodevelopmental disorders that have recently been linked to specific genetic mutations. However, we are currently unable to specify which aspects of behavior may be impaired or delayed should a child be born with such a genetic disorder. For this reason, we phenotype children from 3months – 18 years of age to collect data on all aspects of behavior. We then use statistics to locate commonalities and patterns across specific disorders. Assessed behaviors include intelligence, attention, processing speed, expressive and receptive language and fine and gross motor skills. We only administer standardized assessments (Stanford-Binet 5, Mullen, etc). The lab specifically focuses on Autism and other rare neurodevelopmental disorders that have high comorbidity rates with Autism.

The student intern will participate in each step of the research process.  This includes literature reviews, observing, administering, and scoring neuropsychological assessments, and data entry, management, and some statistical analysis, depending on skill and interest. Students have the opportunity to observe a variety of medical professionals and psychologists during clinic hours to differentiate between the methodologies and goals of research versus clinical practice. Students also complete an independent research project relevant to neurodevelopmental disorders. This project is mentored one-on-one by a full time staff researcher, and is completed throughout the semester. Students present their research to our lab at the end of the semester.  Under our mentorship, past students have presented their research projects as posters at respected conferences.

All of our semester internships — Fall, Spring, and Summer — must be taken for course credit or students must receive funding from a research grant. This includes the summer. We require interns to commit at least one full day to our lab; in the summer, we strongly prefer interns who can commit four days a week.

If you are interested in formally applying for our internship, please send Amy Young, at amy.young@childrens.harvard.edu, your resume, cover letter, and semester of interest. You should also reach out to Amy Young with any questions or inquiries.

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