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Overview of the DISIRE Program
May 30-July 24, 2027

“Diabetes Institute Summer Interprofessional Research Experience (DISIRE)” Summer Undergraduate Program

The DISIRE curriculum will be interdisciplinary-focused consisting of online instruction, weekly seminars, and research with a mentor. The online course will be an abridged version of “Diabetes: From Bench-to-Bedside”, an existing, comprehensive course that explores the genetics, physiology, treatment, self-management, and psychosocial care of diabetes. Our curriculum does not assume an in-depth background in diabetes and the DISIRE curriculum is designed to educate undergraduates without significant prior experience but interest in the field of diabetes research.

The apprentice-based research experience, which will develop research skills and build self-efficacy in the participants, is a critical component of the DISIRE program. Each participant will design a research project with their selected mentor and be involved in all aspects of conducting research from hypothesis generation to dissemination of findings. The final research projects will be presented at a research symposium in conjunction with the other summer undergraduate programs and graduate programs at Ohio University. Project mentors will maintain a long-term mentoring relationship with participants and provide guidance and encouragement to the participants during the application process to graduate school.

Participants who complete the program and are interested in medical school will receive a guaranteed interview for admissions to Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine. To be eligible for an interview, the applicant must have at least a 500 MCAT score and a 3.0 science GPA.

Eligibility Guidelines

Applicants:

• Must be a U.S. Citizenship or Permanent Resident.
• Must be currently enrolled full-time in a U.S. college or university.

Additionally,

• Persons from groups underrepresented in science, including first-generation college students and those from the Appalachian region are strongly encouraged to apply.
• Sophomores and juniors are especially encouraged to apply, but strong applications from freshmen will be considered.
• Applications from students with limited research opportunities are highly encouraged.
• Level of financial need will be considered in the application process. Please collect information on whether you are receiving a Pell grant and a list of other types of financial aid for which you qualify. 

Student Stipend

Each student will receive $4,500 for the summer experience. The stipend will be received by the end of the program. Additionally, students will receive campus food (15 meals a week), on-campus housing for the duration of the program, and access to recreation facilities. Students will be housed in campus residence halls and will likely share a room with another DISIRE participant.  Requests for travel funds will be considered on an individual basis.

Application Process

You will complete an online application. All applications must be submitted by February 21, 2027, at 5 p.m. EST. 

Additionally, you need to request a letter of recommendation on your behalf by including recommender's name and e-mail in online application portal. Your recommender must submit this letter by February 24, 2027, at 5 p.m. This individual will receive an e-mail from Salesforce requesting their reference letter. However, applicants should make an individual request of their letter writers in advance of submitting their application. 

Reference letters should come from a faculty member that can attest to the applicant’s ability in the sciences and interest in applying to a graduate program. 

Students who apply to the program are required to submit the following at the time of application. Please have these ready to submit when you log in to the application portal (applications must be completed in one sitting):

1. Transcripts (official or unofficia), overall GPA, and science GPA.
2. Statement of purpose describing applicant's interest in the sciences, and in particular, diabetes research, and your goals for participating in this program. The DISIRE program acknowledges that some communities have demonstrable barriers to access to quality education in the sciences and welcomes applicants to write about such barriers or other distinctive aspects of your background or personal development that uniquely shape your perspective of science.
3. The name and e-mail of a person who can write a letter of recommendation. This person must be a biological or health science faculty member to attest to the applicant’s ability in the sciences and interest in applying to a graduate program.
4. Resume or Curriculum Vitae.
5. A list of the top three mentors you would like to work with and brief descriptions (2-3 sentences) as to why you chose these mentors. Review descriptions of available research mentors.
6. Information on financial aid eligibility; specifically, you will be asked whether you are receiving a Pell grant and other forms of financial aid that indicate a level of financial need. Please have a list of the types of financial aid you receive or qualify for available. 

Publications Authored or Co-authored by DISIRE students

1. Ganjayi MS, Frank SW, Krauss TA, York ML, Bloch RJ, Baumann CW. Skeletal muscle adaptations following eccentric contractions are not mediated by keratin 18. Journal of Applied Physiology. 2024;137(4):903-909. 
2. Hughes AS, Beach S, Vasistha S, Heydarian N, Morera OF. Development and validation of a measure for seeking health information in the diabetes online community: Mixed methods study. JMIR Diabetes. 2024;9. 
3. Vasistha S, Kanchibhatla A, Blanchette JE, Rieke J, Hughes AS. The Sugar-Coated Truth: The quality of diabetes health information on TikTok. Clinical Diabetes. 2025;43(1):53-58.
4. Young JA, Hinrichs A, Bell S, Geitgey DK, Hume-Rivera D, Bounds A, Soneson M, Laron Z, Yaron-Shaminsky D, Wolf E, List EO, Kopchick JJ, Berryman DE. Growth hormone insensitivity and adipose tissue: Tissue morphology and transcriptome analyses in pigs and humans. Pituitary. 2023;26(6):660-674. 
5. Beverly EA, Miller S, Schmidtgesling L, Whistler K. How coping styles moderate the relationship between diabetes distress and self-care in adults with diabetes in Appalachian Ohio: A cross-sectional survey study. PLOS ONE. 2025;20(12). 
6. Beverly EA, Saunders A, Whistler K. Diabetes stigma and language use among medical students: A cross-sectional survey study. Diabetic Medicine. 2026. 
7. Marquardt MD, Freeman T, Pancake A, Lee J, Rocco JW, Old MO, Kang SY, Miller L, Haring CT, Seim NB, Ozer EK, Agrawal A, Herster R, Snyder T, Malara MM, VanKoevering KK. In-house 3D modeling associated with margin-negative resection in mandibular oral cavity malignancies. Oral Oncology. 2025;168:107588. 
8. D’Angelo CV, West HL, Whitticar NB, Corbin KL, Donovan LM, Stiadle BI, Nunemaker CS. Similarities in calcium oscillations between neonatal mouse islets and mature islets exposed to chronic hyperglycemia. Endocrinology. 2022;163(7). 
9. Mascia G, Frering HE, Althoff RR, Coney E, Hume Rivera D, Toomer-Sanders Z, Erdie-LaLena C, Dame M, Brown LB, Evans D, McGinnis RS, McGinnis EW. Wearables and behavioral coding show promise for measuring and predicting severe emotional outbursts in children. Frontiers in Digital Health. 2026;7:1641845.
10. Sielski E, Shuhd AN, Bower E, Cunningham K, Beidel G, Luchianova A, Courreges MC, Benencia F. Metformin—A type 2 diabetes mellitus drug—and ovarian cancer: Anticancer mechanisms and therapeutic implications. Biomolecules. 2026;16(3):413. 
11. Kazmirski R, Grosel J. Review of current surgical and nonsurgical treatment options for ulnar collateral ligament injuries in high-level baseball pitchers. JBJS Journal of Orthopaedics for Physician Assistants. 2026;14(2).
12. Lach GS, Brown FN, Lee AE, Kington ZA, Sanderson A, Cronin RN, et al. Growing Pains: GH-induced fibrosis across multiple organs in bGH mice. Endocrinology. 2026;167(1). 

Published Conference Abstracts

1. Sielski E, Cunningham K, Luchianova A, Al Noumani S, Courreges MC, Benencia F. 891 Effect of type-2 diabetes medications and oncolytic viruses on mouse and human ovarian cancer cell lines. Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer. 2025;13(Suppl 2).
2. Stiadle BI, List BP, Corbin KL, Nunemaker CS. 1833-P: Effects of exogenous somatostatin on islet glucose sensitivity and pulsatility. Diabetes. 2025;74(Suppl 1):1833-P. 
3. Benencia F, Matocha G, Courreges M, McCall K. Targeting IRF3 to increase the efficacy of oncolytic herpesvirus in mouse cancer cells. The Journal of Immunology. 2024;212(1 Suppl):0870_6318. 

Awards and Accomplishments

• Genevive Ehmann received the first-place Undergraduate Student Award from Ohio University Libraries at the 2026 Student Research and Creative Activity Expo.
• Benjamin Stiadle received the Barry Goldwater Scholarship, a Vanderbilt Provost’s Graduate Fellowship, Ohio University’s Rush Elliott Biological Sciences Award and recognition as an Outstanding Ohio University Honors Student in Biological Sciences. He also earned first- and second-place awards at the Ohio University Student Research and Creative Activity Expo.
• Diana Hume Rivera received an NIH Undergraduate Scholarship, a Space Medicine Association Charles A. Berry Research Scholarship, a RISE DAAD Scholarship and an international trainee research travel award from the Pituitary Society. She also received awards at the Wake Forest University Biomedical Engineering Research Symposium and the Ohio Physiological Society meeting.
• Renee Cronin was named valedictorian of La Roche University’s Class of 2025.
• Veronica Mekhel received a Poster Excellence Award at the 2025 Eastern Colleges Science Conference and was named John Carroll University’s Distinguished Graduate in Psychology. She also received awards for scholastic achievement, research, service and applied psychology.
• Emma Sielski received first-place poster awards at the 2025 Ohio University Student Research and Creative Activity Expo and the Tri-Beta Northeast District Convention. 
• Spruhaa Vasistha was inducted into Sigma Xi, named a Student Researcher with Distinction by Denison University’s Biology Department and received the Margaret Ann Watkin Scholar Award.

This program is supported by the National Institutes of Health under grant award number 1R25DK122952-01A1 . Ohio University is grateful to the National Institutes of Health for supporting the work of talented undergraduate students. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Institutes of Health.