We enthusiastically encourage undergraduate research in our lab. Undergraduates who work in our lab gain valuable experience using cutting-edge technology to study important biological problems.

Our philosophy is to encourage undergraduates to learn new techniques while developing critical thinking. Undergraduates from our lab have progressed to graduate or medical studies at UC Berkeley, CalTech, Cornell, U Penn, Penn State Hershey, Thomas Jefferson and even Harvard Business School.

Most undergraduates work 6-15 hours a week during the semester. Limited full time summer positions for undergraduate research are also available.

Typical undergraduate researchers in our lab are members of the Schreyer Honors College with GPAs above 3.5, but these qualifications are not requirements. Highly motivated freshmen, sophomores or juniors are encouraged to apply through the formal BMB 496 application process.

If you would like additional information about undergraduate research in our lab, please contact Dr. Song Tan by email (sxt30@psu.edu) or telephone (814-865-3355).

Publications with undergraduate authors (in bold):

• Lichty, J.L., Malecki, J.L., Agnew, H.D., Michelson-Horowitz, D.J. and Tan, S. (2005) Comparison of Affinity Tags for Protein Purification, Prot. Expr. Purif., 41:98-105. (abstract)

• Tan, S., Kern, R.C. and Selleck, W. (2005) The pST44 polycistronic expression system for producing protein complexes in Escherichia coli, Prot. Expr. Purif., 40:385-395. (abstract)
  
  
• Selleck, W., Howley, R., Fang, J., Podolny, V., Fried, M.G., Buratowski, S. and Tan, S. (2001) A histone fold TAF octamer within the yeast TFIID transcriptional coactivator, Nature Struct. Biol., 8:695-700. (abstract)