Therapeutics Discovery Division Summer Program

Applications Open: November 16, 2026
Applications Close: January 13, 2027, at 11:59 p.m. CST

The following information is required on the application:

• Personal and demographic information
• Official transcript(s) from undergraduate university
• Statement of research experience & area(s) of interest. In addition to detailing any research experience that you may have, please use this section to highlight any specific areas of research you would like to explore this summer of faculty mentor that you would like to train with. If you do not have any research experience to date, please indicate describe your interest in pursuing an academic and/or professional career in cancer research.
• Two letters of recommendation uploaded by your referee. At least one reference should come from a science or math professor. The other may be from an advisor, counselor, or health care advisor/mentor with whom you worked in a prior program. Both letters must be submitted by your referees directly to SLATE.

Once you submit your application, you will be prompted to create a SLATE account where you can add the contact information for your referees. Once referees are added to your SLATE account, an emailed link will be sent through the system so that your referees may upload their letters of recommendation.

Incomplete applications will be purged after the deadline has passed. If the information found here did not provide the answers you need, please feel free to email the Program Coordinator, Jerome Penson, M.B.A. (jpenson@mdanderson.org) or Program Director, Basti Perazzona, Ph.D. (bperazzo@mdanderson.org). 

Applicants must meet the following eligibility requirements:

• High School Graduates: High school students who have graduated and been accepted into an undergraduate program, with the intention of enrolling in the upcoming Fall semester, must be at least 18 years of age by June 7, 2027, to participate in the program.
• Undergraduate and Graduate Students: Currently enrolled undergraduate and graduate students must be in good academic standing at their respective institutions.
• Graduate Students – Collaborative Therapeutics Projects: Graduate students interested in collaborative projects involving any of our therapeutic platforms must be able to participate in the full-time, on-site program. Participants may not hold other employment or participate in other programs during the program period.

Program Duration:

10-Week Program: Open to eligible college students, running from June 7, 2027, through August 13, 2027.
26-Week Program: Graduate students enrolled in the Master of Biotechnology Program at Texas A&M University will participate in the extended program, running from June 7, 2027, through December 3, 2027.

• Student interns receive a stipend of up to $7,200 (pre-tax) for the 10-week program; $27,000 for the 26-week program.
• This stipend amount includes allowances for housing, living, and travel expenses - no additional allowances are available. 
• Paychecks and stipend are based on actual das worked and will be issued on a bi-weekly schedule deducting the required federal tax. 

• Each student trainee will participate in an individual interview or a panel interview with representatives from each TDD platform. Following the interview, representatives will discuss the trainee’s interests, skills and research goals to determine the most appropriate platform placement.
• Each student trainee will be assigned a project mentor, typically a TDD scientist or researcher, who will provide guidance and support throughout the research project. Mentors will offer scientific expertise, facilitate networking opportunities and support trainees’ academic and professional development.
• The mentorship process is designed to strengthen student trainees’ skills in scientific inquiry, critical thinking and problem-solving. Trainees will gain hands-on laboratory experience, attend seminars and participate in academic discussions, fostering scientific growth and enriching their overall research experience.

Program Contacts:

Jerome Penson, MBA
Program Coordinator, Therapeutics Discovery
jpenson@mdanderson.org

Basti Perazzona, Ph.D.
Director, Research Planning & Development, Therapeutics Discovery
bperazzo@mdanderson.org

TDD Summer Program Email:
tdplatformsoperations@mdanderson.org

Students will contribute to ongoing research initiatives using cutting-edge drug development and innovative techniques in a variety of functional groups:

Opportunity #1 - In Vitro Pharmacology
This group designs, optimizes, validates, and implements robust state-of- the-art biochemical, biophysical, and cell-based assays for novel cancer drug targets to guide medicinal chemistry efforts through the drug discovery process to clinical candidate nominations. These assays identify active chemical entities, characterize them with respect to potency and selectivity, and determine their mode of action. An intern within this group would obtain hands-on laboratory training with in vitro assays utilizing various technologies, learn the data analysis process, and learn how results enable rapid, iterative lead optimization on drug discovery project teams.

Opportunity #2 - Biomarker Discovery and Validation 
For a treatment to be successful in vivo, a drug must reach the disease tissue and engage with the molecular target, leading to a desired effect. Before testing new anticancer drugs in humans, each compound is carefully optimized and evaluated in clinically relevant animal models that mimic human disease and treatment. The aim of the Biomarker group is to develop assays to monitor molecular indicators of drug effect on the target in an organism. An intern in this group will gain laboratory training in cell and tissue-based assays utilizing various technologies, and learn various aspects of the development, validation and utilization of biomarkers from preclinical as well as clinical samples.

Opportunity #3 - Innovation, Imaging, and Automation
Candidates will have the opportunity to experience innovation development in a translational biotech-like environment. Agnostic to approach, our focus ranges from automation of image analysis, to scaling and streamlining of assays, to development of molecular pathology tools and assays understand biology of response, to the introduction of novel imaging modalities.

Opportunity #4 - Model Characterization and Disease Modeling
Candidates will have the opportunity to help our disease modeling efforts in the employment of cell- and organoid-based assays that will inform on important program objectives. These efforts can range from the design and development of these models to their characterization (e.g. responder vs. non-responder) to their interaction within in vivo systems (e.g. immune modulation).

Opportunity #5 - Translational Biology
Candidates will have the opportunity to experience translation science in a biotech-like environment. Working first-hand with our program biologists, they will get to learn the principles behind how a drug works and how certain cancers will respond. Efforts will be program specific but can range from evaluating response in cell/organoid culture and in evaluating tissue specimens for target biology.

Opportunity #6 - Biology of Brain Metastasis
Candidates will have the opportunity to work with biologists who are focused on the mechanisms guiding brain metastasis. Our efforts in disease modeling and close collaboration with world-expert clinicians offer the unique opportunity to evaluate new mechanisms and drug combinations that can inform on tumor/brain interaction and tumor/immune reaction which mediate diverse responses and inform on novel mechanisms of resistance.

Opportunity #7 - Research Management
This position is a non-bench-based role for scientific strategy and management within the Therapeutics Discovery division. The candidate will gain expertise in competitive intelligence and portfolio strategy. This will involve developing expertise to evaluate pre-clinical and clinical research papers in oncology and assist with disseminating key information to stakeholders to inform pre-clinical strategies. Furthermore, this role combines scientific knowledge with project management expertise to ensure that programs are executed successfully from early-stage research through development. The candidate will work closely with research teams and potentially internal compliance, business development, legal, and/or licensing groups to ensure programs are aligning with institutional and division objectives.

Students will contribute to ongoing research initiatives using cutting-edge drug development and innovative techniques in a variety of functional groups:

Opportunity #1 - Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics
The ADME/PK Group uses in vitro and LC/MS/MS techniques to evaluate the preclinical absorption, distribution, metabolism, elimination (ADME) and pharmacokinetics (PK) properties of therapeutic small molecules in early discovery. Interns will have the opportunity to learn in vitro and LC/MS/MS techniques and understand the ADME and PK properties of novel therapeutics.

Opportunity #2 - Structural Chemistry
Understanding how small molecules bind to and inhibit their protein target is fundamental to the success of any drug discovery program. An intern within this group will quantify and explore the interactions between proteins and small molecules either through experimental means, learning how to express and purify recombinant proteins followed by application of biophysical and structural biology techniques, or by using computational methods to perform protein structure-based analyses. The lab is equipped with state-of-the-art equipment for protein structure determination by X-ray crystallography and has access to high performance computing resources.

Opportunity #3 - Small Molecule Drug Discovery
Interns will work closely alongside medical chemists, synthesizing novel compounds to be evaluated in biochemical and cell-based assays. Interns will have the opportunity to work either on a direct drug discovery project or on a closely related earlier stage project. The Medicinal Chemistry team is seeking interns who have completed basic organic chemistry lab classes and are familiar with interpreting NMR and MS spectra.

Opportunity #1 - Computational Biology
Our computational biology team investigates the novel molecular pathways of disease and multi-omic characterization of various cancers to inform on avenues of targeted therapies in collaboration with key clinical partners. Interns will work with our translational biology and reverse translation teams on various projects with topics that may include functional genomics methods and analysis, analysis of imaging-based data, single cell and spatial transcriptomics, epigenomics and genomics based.

Opportunity #2 Data - Visualization
Candidates can help develop visualization tools to enable program biologists’ visualization and interpretation of complex data streams. These tools have the potential to become part of the data analysis workflow across multiple programs.

Opportunity #3 - Disease Modeling and Functional Genomics
Candidates can help infer and develop hypotheses from multiple orthogonal datasets (e.g. RNAseq, Spatial Transcriptomics, CRISPR screening) regarding cancer modeling. The integration of diverse datasets will enable program biologists to better understand many aspects of disease/drug mechanism of action including biology of response and mechanisms of resistance.

Opportunity #4 - Data Storage and Database Organization
Candidates will have the opportunity to help structure the back-end side of database organization. They will be able to work with database experts to design optimal and cutting-edge solutions to the organization of our many and diverse data streams from sequencing data to sample and study tracking.