Junior STEM Program

A Drug's Life and Impact from the Pharmaceutical Lab to the Store

Faculty Advisor: Founding Member of Two Pharmaceutical Corporations; Postdoctoral Researcher, Cornell

Research Program Introduction

The pharmaceutical industry has been around for decades. Some people say that drugs are the reason our species is evolving backward. There is some truth to this. Darwin’s theory of evolution suggests that traits of sickness or disease may be more likely to be eliminated from the population pool; hence, those traits that remain may be stronger, fitter, and more suited for the living environment. However, modern medicine has changed the traditional dynamics of evolution.

Before the discovery of penicillin, millions more humans died from diseases, including pneumonia, tuberculosis, and many other infectious diseases. Not too long ago, COVID-19 killed almost 770 million individuals. Diseases are scary, yet medicine can make them all more manageable. These days, an infection may not affect you too much, a fever may be gone just with two pills, and even cancer no longer sounds like a death sentence.

This program dives deeper into the usually decade-long, multi-million dollar drug-making process from research, where the experiment is run in a laboratory, to animal tests, to human tests, and finally to approval from the Drug and Food Administration (FDA). We will also discuss the current issue of drug pricing, its root causes, and future directions.

Students will learn the overall pathway of a drug’s development –the general process it takes to develop a molecule (small molecule, biologics, etc.) into a commercialized drug. At the end of the program, each student will complete a 3 to 5-page academic paper or academic research proposal based on their interests and a presentation to showcase their findings.

Program Topics

  • The importance and impact of the pharmaceutical industry.

  • How difficult is it to make a medication?

  • The power of vaccines and medicine.

  • Examples of a few best-selling medications include: Keytruda, OPDIVO, etc.

Program Detail

  • Cohort size: This cohort is limited to 5 to 10 students

  • Workload: Around 3 hours per week (including class and homework time)

  • Target students: 7 to 9th graders interested in pre-med, biology, chemistry, biochemistry, phycology, neuroscience, neurobiology, and/or journalism. Students must be fluent in English and demonstrate self-management skills. This project is best for students with genuine curiosity in the subject, diligence, and initiative.