Photo gallery: 2025 KEYS Research Showcase

Today
Andres Parra, BIO5 Communications and Marketing Assistant

Celebrating the 19th Annual Showcase and the achievements of the largest KEYS class of 65 interns from across Arizona.

Group of individuals holding certificates in a tiered auditorium.

On July 18, 2025, the KEYS Research Internship Showcase marked its 19th year by welcoming over 350 community members to the University of Arizona Health Sciences Innovation Building to celebrate the hard work and achievements of 65 high school interns from across Arizona. 

The Showcase offers interns a platform to share the research they’ve been involved in and present the posters they developed over the course of the summer.

This year’s cohort included six students in our inaugural Phoenix group, nine participating virtually, and fifty attending in person in Tucson. Through the KEYS (Keep Engaging Youth in Science) program, these students spent their summer immersed in hands-on research, working alongside BIO5 Institute members in their labs.

Interns worked across a wide range of scientific disciplines, including on projects in neuroscience, plant biology, diabetes care, women’s health, and more. 

See Inside KEYS 2025 

Over seven weeks, they gained confidence in themselves and their skills while taking part in real-world scientific projects under the mentorship of University of Arizona researchers.

An older adult is engaged in a conversation with a younger adult in a social gathering.

Thomas W. Keating engages with a KEYS intern presenting their summer research project.

Emilia Gazman, BIO5 Institute

The KEYS program is committed to expanding access to STEM opportunities, helping students build skills, grow confidence, and explore potential careers in science and research.

A key goal of the program is to retain talented students within Arizona’s public universities and workforce. In support of this mission, KEYS interns earn college credit and are offered assured admission to the University of Arizona’s W.A. Franke Honors College upon application and acceptance.

Since its founding, the KEYS program has graduated 811 students. The program is led by the BIO5 Institute and made possible through the support of BIO5 and generous donors, including individuals, families, companies, foundations, and colleges and departments across the University of Arizona.

The Technology and Research Initiative Fund (TRIF), which helped launch BIO5 more than 20 years ago, continues to be a catalyst for interdisciplinary bioscience research, innovation, and impact at the University of Arizona, making student-focused programs like KEYS possible. 

Applications for the 2026 KEYS cohort will open in fall 2025. 

Learn more about how donors can contribute to the KEYS to the Future endowment fund.

Photos from the 2025 KEYS Research Showcase 

Group of individuals signing up at a registration table
Attendees discussing academic posters at a university research showcase event.
Person standing in front of a scientific poster at a research showcase.
Person presenting a scientific poster titled "Geographical difference of metal composition in genera Noctua and Thaspi" at a showcase.
female and male heart tissue reacts to stress and inflammation
Individual presenting a scientific poster on the reliability of artificial genomes for demographic history inference at a showcase.
Attendees at a scientific conference discussing and reviewing poster presentations.
Person standing in front of a research poster presentation at a science conference. The poster includes various sections like abstract, introduction, materials and methods, results, and references, along with graphical data and illustrations.

About the University of Arizona BIO5 Institute 

The BIO5 Institute at the University of Arizona connects and mobilizes top researchers in agriculture, engineering, biomedicine, pharmacy, basic science, and computational science to find creative solutions to humanity’s most pressing health and environmental challenges. Since 2001, this interdisciplinary approach has been an international model of how to conduct collaborative research, and has resulted in disease prevention strategies, promising new therapies, innovative diagnostics and devices, and improved food crops.