About

The Regenerative Medicine Institute is one of 25 subject-specific one-week institutes offered through Wake Forest University's Summer Immersion Program. Set on WFU's campus in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, it introduces high school students to the science and technology of repairing, replacing, and regenerating human tissues and organs. The program runs Sunday through Friday — check-in Sunday afternoon, checkout Friday at noon — and is fully residential, with students housed in WFU dorms and supervised by program staff around the clock.

The content draws directly on WFU's institutional strength in regenerative medicine. The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) is one of the largest and most recognized centers of its kind in the world, and the Summer Immersion program delivers its curriculum through WFIRM graduate students and PhD candidates, not undergraduate TAs. Students explore stem cells, biomaterials, tissue engineering, organ-on-a-chip systems, biomanufacturing, and regenerative medicine in space through hands-on labs and direct researcher engagement. The week is structured around discovery and career exposure rather than independent research: students leave with a Certificate of Completion, not college credit, and the program carries no academic transcript.

Admission is rolling and open to all current high school students in grades 9 through 12, domestic and international, with no GPA cutoff or subject prerequisites stated. The application requires two essays, one teacher or counselor recommendation, and a $60 fee; transcripts and test scores are not required. Students are admitted to the program generally — not to specific institutes — and must then register and submit a $550 deposit to secure a seat. Tuition is $3,500 for the week, which covers housing, meals, and all on-campus programming. Need-based financial aid has been exhausted for 2026; students should plan to apply in November for future cycles to access scholarships before funding depletes.

As its one-week duration signals, this program is an honest and well-resourced enrichment experience, not an in-depth research experience. Students who want genuine mentored lab experience in regenerative medicine at WFIRM should instead look at the separate WFIRM Summer Research Exposure Program (SREP), a competitive four-week program for students ages 16–18 that places participants directly in WFIRM research labs. The Summer Immersion Regenerative Medicine Institute is the right fit for a student who wants an engaging, focused week on a compelling topic at a university with genuine depth in the field — and who understands clearly what the program is and is not.