High School Student Volunteer

The miRcore Volunteer Program (MVP) supports student growth in biology, computer science, leadership, and healthcare advocacy through student-directed voluntary activities. Since the MVP research tools (all used by current scientists) are taught at our summer camps, lectures during MVP meetings assume all students were exposed to those tools beforhand. We found that without such exposure with summer camps, students have difficulties to fullly participate in the group research. Therefore, we highly recommend taking our summer camps (scholarships available) before applying for becoming a volunteer.

As an MVP student, you are qualified to start a school club Genes in Diseases and Symptoms (GIDAS; guide-us). Our MVP student leaders will train and support you in building and leading a GIDAS chapter.

Mission: MVP students are connecting scientists and the public through various activities.

Disease of Focus in 2025-26School Year

Each year, MVP students vote for a disease of focus. Infectious diseases are voted for the 2025-26 school year.

Current Fundraising Efforts

MVP students will raise funds for innovated research in neurodegenerative diseases. Thank you for your interest and please consider support this effort.

Student Group Research

Since 2020, we have wonderful supports from college students who led group research each week and from scientists who guided each group in finalizing research in April. Thank you.

Univerisity of Michigan GIDAS members helped Group Research

Akshaya Ravikumar, Amber Hashmi, Areeba Maysun, Danyal Raza, Emily Madlambayan, Isabella Imirowicz, Joelle Ellis, John Li, Kat Mudge, Kathy Zhang, Kayleigh Weinstein, Kelly Deng, Leanne Henry, Leo Tunkle, Madilyn Gaydos, Nihal Lingam, Philip Huang, Pranav Balachander, Priya Dutta, Ranya Liu, Rohit Goru, Vibha Moorthy

Scientists advised Group Research in past years

University of Michigan

Cheong-Hee Chang, Ph.D., Professor
David Beer, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus
David Burke, Ph.D., Professor
Jie Liu, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Michael Uhler, Ph.D., Professor
Shelly Flagel, Ph.D., Associate Professor
Stephen Weiss, M.D., Professor

National Human Genome Research Institute

Meru Sadhu, Ph.D., Investigator & Head
Peter McGuire, M.S., M.B.B.Ch., Investigator & Head

Advocates personalized medicine (precision medicine) and prepares peers for the emerging era of medical genomics.

We meet every Saturday 2-4 pm Eastern Time throughout the school year, researching a disease of focus and preparing GIDAS meetings at each school.

Most volunteers are invited from summer camps.

miRcore volunteer is a place where individuals with similar thinking can come together to bounce ideas off of one another. It’s very fun as everybody has the same goals in mind and we can all relate to each other.

Making a difference in the world.

A happy individual who likes biology.

miRcore volunteering is a fantastic opportunity to learning new information and to do research on diseases.

miRcore gives an amazing opportunity to young people interested in science. The organization allows youth in the community to be like scientists and leaders who make a difference.

miRcore volunteers to research a certain disease and use the genome sequences to help find a cure for the disease.

miRcore volunteering is a place where high schoolers gather and work together to help advance personalized medicine.

miRcore volunteer is a group of high school students who work together to develop a better understanding of medicine and science.

It is a research camp where we find cures for Parkinson’s and other such diseases.

Contributing to better understanding of diseases

Being a miRcore volunteer means that the individual wants to help better the world through research and providing solutions while making connections that could help solve an issue in the field of biology.

A miRcore volunteer wants to better the community using their knowledge of the sciences.

miRcore volunteers are collaborating high school students who care about science and future research. We learn about computational biology and hope to find cures for genetic diseases.

It is about engineering genes and also about learning new things about genes.

miRcore volunteers are a group of high school students interested in learning about genetics and applying our knowledge to treat diseases that currently have no cure.

We are individuals interested in using genes and technology to search for cures of diseases.

miRcore is a student-oriented volunteer group that conducts group research to learn about genes and how to change gene expression to prevent certain diseases from occurring.

A miRcore volunteer is dedicated and passionate about the sciences.

We volunteer for science and further the studies and communication between all age groups and people.

miRcore volunteering is about learning as much as possible about genetics and the applications of genetics to health while staying grounded in the day-to-day reality of the patients whose diseases we are studying. It’s also a pathway to get high school students involved in new frontiers in expanding the genetic perspective of health to include a wider variety of data types, especially gene expression.

A miRcore volunteer is someone who utilizes bioinformatics and genomics to educate others about the genes involved in diseases and disorders.

miRcore volunteers are a group of students very interested in studying genes and diseases who pursue that interest and devote their time to further their knowledge.

I like the long-lasting friendships that are made and the acceptance that is found throughout.

I get to make a difference and make new friends and become more intelligent.

Very helpful and interesting.

You get to acquire fresh knowledge.

I like miRcore volunteers most for its closeness and the environment. Everyone is very friendly and we all share the same passion for science.

I like learning new ways to do research and learning how to use different genome websites.

miRcore volunteering is nice because our group can work together to learn more about what we are interested in.

miRcore volunteering is an extra opportunity to learn more in-depth than in school, which I really like. The atmosphere is also very nice.

I like how everything is shared with us so we have access to a lot of information any time we want.

Learning about techniques in real industry.

I like how didactic it is and it really opens you up to a world of science not many young students are exposed to.

I like that the volunteers are kind and have the same mission in their volunteering.

I enjoy getting to meet new people who are interested in genetics.

I also like that I have learned so much!

It is very interesting and it is quite informative about gene processing.

I have been able to apply knowledge from things that I’ve learned in biology class. Also, I really enjoy the fundraisers that we do and connecting to the community.

I like the incorporation of computer technology.

I like that I get to meet new people from different parts of Michigan. It’s great that we all come together, express our different viewpoints, and collaborate to solve certain biological problems.

I like the teamwork aspect. I also like how we always learn something new

I like that we are using up-to-date data and have access to a lot of resources. It feels like we have meaningful contribution.

I like miRcore volunteering because it’s a way to learn more about types of medicine and science that I don’t learn about in school. Volunteering also helps me connect the academic parts of learning to the real-life patient experience.

As a miRcore volunteer I get a chance to learn more about genetics, especially in our disease of focus this year, Parkinson’s Disease. As a miRcore volunteer, I get a chance to learn by doing something, unlike in school, where information is just given to me.

I like how we get to explore these diseases using computer programs and all of these tools. This research is a unique thing that I’m glad I get to experience because I would never have gotten to explore disease research.