College Student - Neuro-Oncology - Research

A college student position is available in the department of Neuor-Oncology under the mentorship of Dr. Vinay Puduvalli. The college student will focus on conducting experiments (such as cell culture, plasmid preparation, etc.) to help other lab members with different projects. All duties and responsibilities are carried out in compliance with institutional policies, ethical research standards, and applicable federal and state regulations. LEARNING OBJECTIVES I. To learn how to culture and maintain human glioblastoma stem-like cells (GSCs) by using DMEM/F-12 culture medium without FBS. Activities will include 1) Thawing, passing, and freezing GSC cells; 2) checking cell viability with trypan blue; 3) diluting the cells to seed them for experiments at appropriate density. II. To learn how to conduct cell proliferation assay with GSCs upon drug treatment. Activities will include 1) seed appropriate cell number onto 96-well plate; 2) prepare drugs at required concentration; 3) treat cells with drugs and incubate for the indicated time period; 4) lyse the cells with Titer-Glo to perform TiterGlo Assay; 5) analyze the data and plot graph for data presentation. III. To learn how to transduce GSCs with lentiviral particles and select positive cells. Activities will include 1) culture HEK 293T cells; 2) transfect HEK293T cells with plasmids (i.e., pCMV-VSVG, pCMV-dR8.2dvpr, and pLentiCrispr-V2mO) using jetPRIMEu00ae transfection reagent (Polyplus); 3) collect supernatant and concentrate the lentivirus; 4) transduce GSCs and select target cells with selection markers. IV. To learn how to conduct western blot with GSC lysate and how to use Li-COR Odyssey CLX and Image Studio software to capture and analyze the image data. ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS Undergraduate student POSITION INFORMATION Offsite work arrangements are subject to approval and may be modified or revoked at any time based on business needs, performance considerations, or regulatory requirements. This position may be responsible for maintaining the security and integrity of critical infrastructure, as defined in Section 113.001(2) of the Texas Business and Commerce Code and therefore may require routine reviews and screening. The ability to satisfy and maintain all requirements necessary to ensure the continued security and integrity of such infrastructure is a condition of hire and continued employment. It is the policy of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to provide equal employment opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, age, national origin, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, or any other basis protected by institutional policy or by federal, state or local laws unless such distinction is required by law. [

Created: 2026-03-16