Become a Research Trainee

Who can become a Research Trainee?

• High school students (ages 16+ for dry lab, 18+ for wet lab.)
• Students enrolled in a bachelor’s, master’s, or PhD program at a degree-granting institution in the United States.
• Students who recently graduated with their bachelor’s degree and are in a gap year.

Attending an international institution? Check out our Research Visiting Scholar Program and see if you qualify.  

What roles are available?

Students can choose a mentor in one of two settings:

Wet Lab - A lab environment that deals with chemicals, cultures, etc. to draw conclusions. Personal protective equipment (PPE) is required for this setting and varies based on the needs of the project.

• Examples at Moffitt include the following departments:
  • Metabolism and Physiology
  • Drug Discovery
  • Immunology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Tumor Microenvironment and Metastasis
  • BioEngineering

Dry Lab -  A lab environment that uses computational elements and/or data collection to draw conclusions.

• Examples at Moffitt include the following departments:
  • Biostatistics and Bioinformatics
  • Integrated Mathematical Oncology
  • Machine Learning
  • Cancer Epidemiology
  • Health Outcomes and Behavior

How can you become a Research Trainee?

Moffitt does not provide placement services for potential trainees. Students are required to reach out to potential mentors based on their own interests. Search our Research section for the faculty at our center and get better acquainted with their work. Once the student gains approval to join the lab, their mentor reaches out to the Department of Research Education and Training. The clearance process takes place through Human Resources, who will collect the required documentation. Our onboarding process takes four to six weeks on average but depends on the rate at which the documentation is received.

For more information, contact Paola.Uscanga@moffitt.org.