Undergraduate Research Assistant in a Neural Stem Cell Lab
This position provides a hands-on opportunity to undergraduate students who are interested in biomedical
research. This position is NOT for students who are looking to do “research for credit (e.g. Bio 152)”,
immediately. However, after the students have been accepted into one of our research teams in the lab, he/she
can do “research for credit” project and will have opportunities to be co-authors of peer reviewed publications.
The student needs to
 Be a freshman or sophomore student at UW-Madison as on Sep 1 2013
 Have goal to enter a graduate program for PhD or MD/PhD degree after graduation (do not apply if you
have decided you will focus on MD degree only)
 Be biology and biology-related major. (will also consider other science major with biology emphasis, e.g.
chemistry or bioinformatics)
 Have science class GPA (at UW-Madison) above 3.3
 Can work 15 hours or more per week during school year
 Can work for at least two months and more than 25 hours per week during summers.
 Be highly accountable and detail-oriented
 (No previous experience is required).
Duties: Initial duties of the student include general lab maintenance, such as dishwashing, solution making,
autoclaving, and animal transfer, etc. The student is expected to participate in weekly lab meetings and join
discussion on research projects. The student is also expected to learn and help out basic laboratory techniques,
such as animal perfusion, mouse genotyping, tissue processing, cell assays, etc. Based on the performance, the
student may join one of the research projects and contribute to publications.
Our laboratory studies molecular controls of neural stem cells. The lab is located at Waisman Center, next to
UW hospital. (website: http://neuro.wisc.edu/faculty/zhao.asp).
Paid versus unpaid lab work: All students will start by doing general lab chores for at least 6 months. If the
student has work-study support, he/she will be paid for the hours of lab chores. When the student is accepted
into a research team, the student is expected to take credit for the research hours. The exception is summer
research and students in special needs. Funding might be available to support summer research of outstanding
students.
The admission process:
Step 1. If interested, please answer the questions on the next page and email the answers to lab manager: Yina
Xing (yxing@ wisc.edu).
Step 2. We will contact you through email when you are selected for interview. Due to the large number of
applicants, we will not reply to each email.
Step 3. The students who have passed interview will undergo a trial (un-paid) period for at least 4 weeks or at
least 20 total hours in the lab, whichever is longer. We want to make sure that you are a good fit for our lab.
Questions for Lab Assistant Candidates
Name: _____________________
Date:______________________
1. Why do you want to get this position?
2. What is your educational goal after college?
3. Will you have work-study support (you do not need to have work-study support, if you only intend to
volunteer for the entire time for this position)?
4. What is your major and minor?
5. What is your GPA in UW-Madison (please DO NOT apply if your UW science class GPA is below
3.3)? (if you are incoming student, please indicate your high school GPA and name of high school)
6. How many years/months do you have left in UW-Madison?
7. How many hours/week can you work during school year?
8. How many hours/week can you work during summer and break? (please DO NOT apply for this
position if you cannot work at least two months for at least 25 hours/week during summers)
9. Are you going to have any other jobs if you are hired for this position? If yes, how many hours/week are
you going to work in the other jobs?
10. Are you willing to wash dishes and do other basic lab chores?
11. Are you careful and reliable?
12. Do you work well with others?
13. Do you have reservation about animal research and/or stem cell research? (please do not apply if you are
against either of these)
14. Are you a minority student (e.g. Hispanic, Black, etc; – minority student may be eligible for special
program support)?