A doctoral-level internship program was developed at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with the intent to create customizable experiential learning opportunities for biomedical trainees to support career exploration, preparation, and transition into their postgraduate professional roles. We report the outcomes of this program over a 5-year period. During that 5-year period, 123 internships took place at over 70 partner sites, representing at least 20 academic, for-profit, and non-profit career paths in the life sciences. A major goal of the program was to enhance trainees’ skill development and expertise in careers of interest. The benefits of the internship program for interns, host/employer, and supervisor/principal investigator were assessed using a mixed-methods approach, including surveys with closed- and open-ended responses as well as focus group interviews. Balancing stakeholder interests is key to creating a sustainable program with widespread support; hence, the level of support from internship hosts and faculty members were the key metrics analyzed throughout. We hypothesized that once a successful internship program was implemented, faculty culture might shift to be more accepting of internships; indeed, the data quantifying faculty attitudes support this. Furthermore, host motivation and performance expectations of interns were compared with results achieved, and this data revealed both expected and surprising benefits to hosts. Data suggests a myriad of benefits for each stakeholder group, and themes are cataloged and discussed. Program outcomes, evaluation data, policies, resources, and best practices developed through the implementation of this program are shared to provide resources that facilitate the creation of similar internship programs at other institutions. Program development was initially spurred by National Institutes of Health pilot funding, thereafter, successfully transitioning from a grant-supported model, to an institutionally supported funding model to achieve long-term programmatic sustainability.

For traditional laboratory microscopy observation, the multi-dimensional, real-time, in situ observation of three-dimensional (3D) tumor spheroids has always been the pain point in cell spheroid observation. In this study, we designed a side-view observation petri dish/device that reflects light, enabling in situ observation of the 3D morphology of cell spheroids using conventional inverted laboratory microscopes. We used a 3D-printed handle and frame to support a first-surface mirror, positioning the device within a cell culture petri dish to image cell spheroid samples. The imaging conditions, such as the distance between the mirror and the 3D spheroids, the light source, and the impact of the culture medium, were systematically studied to validate the in situ side-view observation. The results proved that placing the surface mirror adjacent to the spheroids enables non-destructive in situ real-time tracking of tumor spheroid formation, migration, and fusion dynamics. The correlation between spheroid thickness and dark core appearance under light microscopy and the therapeutic effects of chemotherapy doxorubicin and natural killer cells on spheroids’ 3D structure was investigated.