Our competitive Research Intensives program places high-achieving high school students in professional working labs alongside distinguished faculty, graduate and undergraduate students. Research Intensive in Unveiling the Sugary Armor of Mycobacterial Cells: Its Impact on Cell Growth, Antibiotic Resistance, and the War Against Tuberculosis Pathogenesis (Morita Lab). Mycobacteria cause many diseases including tuberculosis and leprosy. The Morita lab uses techniques in molecular biology, biochemistry, cell biology, and genetics to decipher the mechanisms employed by mycobacteria that make them survive in our human body and persist even after a long antibiotic treatment. The students are expected to work on mutants of a nonpathogenic model Mycobacterium species to investigate how mycobacteria grow and survive under stress conditions. Students will learn skills in basic microbiology and cell biology.