If you’re a high school student looking for hands-on learning and practical experiences, you should consider attending a lab research program. While there are many options to choose from, in this article, we are highlighting online lab research opportunities that can be taken from the comfort of your home.
Through these online lab research opportunities, you will engage in hands-on projects and experiments and learn to develop skills required in the field of research. In this article, you will find online programs that send you lab kits and supplement them with virtual simulations. The list also includes online research programs involving coding or machine learning projects.
Here is a curated list of 15 online lab research opportunities for high school students:
1. Lumiere Research Scholar Program
Cost: 100% financial aid is available
Program dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year
Application deadline: Varying deadlines based on cohort. The Summer Cohort I priority application deadline is May 11
Eligibility: High school students who demonstrate a high level of academic achievement. (Note: students have an unweighted GPA of 3.3 out of 4). No previous knowledge of your field of interest is required.
The Lumiere Research Scholar Program is an online research program for high school students that allows you to develop an independent research project. This program is an opportunity to get personalized guidance as it offers 1-on-1 sessions with a PhD mentor.
The available research areas include data science, mathematics, biology, physics, economics and more. You can choose your field of research based on your interests and then work on your project with guidance from your mentor. At the end of the 12-week program, you’ll have developed an independent research paper that you can send to journals for publication. Click here to apply.
2 Horizon’s Academic Research Program (HARP)
Program Dates: The spring and fall cohorts run 15 weeks, while the summer cohort runs 10 weeks (June-September)
Application Date: Multiple deadlines for the Spring, Summer and Fall cohorts throughout the year. The next upcoming deadline is May 18 for the summer cohort.
Eligibility: High school students with good academic standing (>3.67/4.0 GPA) can apply. Most accepted students are 10th/11th graders! Only a couple of tracks require formal prerequisites, more details of which can be found here.
The Horizon Academic Research Program is a virtual research opportunity for high school students to create research projects. This is a trimester-long program that pairs you with a professor or PhD mentor from whom you will learn research tools and methodologies.
You can choose from fields like computer science, neuroscience, engineering, environmental health, psychology, physics, and chemistry. The program also lets you choose between qualitative and quantitative research. Through the program, you will learn about your topic at an advanced level and develop a 20-page research paper. You can apply for the program here.
3. The V Lab Program
Cost: Details about the cost haven’t been mentioned
Program dates: Not applicable
Application deadline: Not applicable
Eligibility: Students in grades 5-12
The V Lab program offers over 50 unique virtual lab experiences for high school students. The program is structured through 45-minute virtual lessons by instructors that are live-streamed directly into high school classrooms. The program sends kits that include lab materials, instructor guides, worksheets, pre and post-laboratory activity sheets, and claim-evidence-reasoning (CER) worksheets.
The lessons span various research areas such as biology, chemistry, engineering, life sciences, math, biotechnology, and physics. This program is hosted by a non-profit organization called Students 2 Science.
4. Science Interactive’s Lab Kits
Cost: Ranging from $150-$250 depending on the specific lab kit
Program dates: Not applicable
Application deadline: Not applicable
Eligibility: All high school students
Science Interactive is another platform that provides home-delivered lab kits so you can engage in hands-on learning from wherever you are. The kits come with lab-grade materials and equipment, and you can choose from the readymade kits or customize a kit to your preference.
These kits are designed by Ph.D-level science educatiors, and they aim to help you develop cirital thinking and observational skills. There are over 450 virtual lab kits available in a number of topics like cardiovascular physiology, antacid analysis, cell membrane transport, drawing organic compounds, Hooke’s Law, and more.
5. Carolina’s Distance Learning Program
Cost: Ranging from $150-$250 depending on the specific lab kit
Program dates: Not applicable
Application deadline: Not applicable
Eligibility: All high school students
Carolina is a science supplier that provides products and resources that promote science education. The company has a distance learning program which provides virtual lab opportunities for high school students. You will learn using the program’s lab kit which features a combination of hands-on experiences and virtual learning components.
You can choose between a biology kit (covering topics like enzyme catalysis, ecosystems, and modeling DNA) and a chemistry kit (covering topics like gas laws, petri dish electrolysis, and chemical bonding). You can find more details here.
6. The Home Scientist’s Science Kits
Cost: Ranges between $100-$300 depending on the kit
Program dates: Not applicable
Application deadline: Not applicable
Eligibility: All high school students
The Home Scientist provides science lab kits for high school students to engage in lab courses at home. The kits come with instruction manuals and all the required equipment like microscopes, live specimens, and chemicals.
They are available in the fields of biology, chemistry, and forensic science. Depending on which one you choose, you will learn about topics like bacteria culture, acid-base chemistry, electrochemistry, fingerprint analysis, and hair and fiber analysis.
7. Edvotek’s Distance Learning Labs
Cost: Ranges from $55-$65
Program dates: Not applicable
Application deadline: Not applicable
Eligibility: All high school students
Edvotek is a biotechnology education company that offers distance learning labs for high school and college students to conduct experiments at home. Currently, the company has two kits for high school students — a COVID-19 antibody kit and a bioinformatics kit.
Through a simulated experiment, the COVID-19 kit helps you understand current antibody-based detection techniques and provides you with the tools to perform an ELISA at home. The bioinformatics kit first introduces you to Phython and helps you use this coding langage in a simulation where you identify a SNP in DNA. The kits are supplemented with PDF instructions or a video lesson to guide you through the experiments.
8. NASA and UT Austin’s SEES High School Summer Intern Program
Cost: Free
Program dates: Online learning component from May 1 – July 1, project work from June 1 – July 19, Virtual SEES Science Symposium from July 21-22
Application deadline: February 22
Eligibility: Current high school sophomores and juniors who are US citizens and at least 16 years of age
NASA and UT Austin’s STEM Enhancement in Earth Sciences (SEES) Summer Intern Program offers several virtual research opportunities for high school students. This program allows you to work on hands-on projects with real data from NASA satellites.
The virtual internships cover topics like air quality research, climate change, and astronomy. Most of these projects include field work and technical equipment like photometry software, astronomy software, NASA’s GLOBE Observer data collection app, and instruments to collect data about surface temperature or air quality.
9. UC San Diego’s Research Scholars Program – Bionegineering
Cost: Ranges from $1,300 – $2,600 depending on the course you choose. A few scholarships are available
Application deadline: Varies with each course
Program dates: Varies with each course
Eligibility: All high school students (individual courses may have prerequisites and international students are welcome to apply)
UC San Diego’s Research Scholars program allows high school students to take advanced courses in a specific field. The program’s bioengineering track offers three programs — an introductory program, a research workshop, and a research internship.
The introductory program and the research workshop have a virtual option where you will be sent a lab kit at home to conduct experiments and get hands-on experience. The programs dive into topics like mechanobiology, mammalian cell and tissue culture, regenerative medicine, and biomedical imaging.
10. MIT Beaver Works Summer Institute
Cost: Free for families with an income of less than $150,000. Families in a higher income bracket need to pay a fee of $2,350.
Program dates: July 7 – August 3, 2025
Application deadline: March 31, 2025
Eligibility: Rising high school seniors who live and attend school in the US
The MIT Beaver Works Summer Institute is a highly reputed pre-college program that provides high school students with hands-on experiences in STEM fields. The program has several virtual courses in fields like machine learning, data science, cybersecurity, medical analytics, microelectronics, remote sensing, and quantum software.
Depending on the course, you will work with a variety of tools at home such as coding platforms, software programs, operating systems, and hardware kits. You can expect plenty of hands-on activities like designing a semiconductor on a silicon substrate.
11. Johns Hopkins University’s ASPIRE
Cost: Free
Program dates: The program generally begins in the last week of June and goes on for 6-9 weeks
Application deadline: February 15
Eligibility: High-school juniors and seniors residing in one of the given Maryland counties, who have a minimum GPA of 2.8 and are at least 15 years of age
Johns Hopkins University’s ASPIRE is a summer program that allows high school students to explore a specific STEM subject in a hands-on environment under the guidance of a mentor. You can choose from fields like aerospace engineering, artificial intelligence, life sciences, cybersecurity, mathematics, physics, computer science, and STEM communications.
You will gain practical skills in each track by engaging in activities like building a spacecraft model, creating a drone, using remote sensing datasets, and designing an electric field sensor. This is a selective program with an acceptance rate of about 10%.
12. Stanford AIMI’s Summer Research Internship
Cost: $850. Need-based financial aid is available.
Program dates: June 16 – 27
Application deadline: February 28
Eligibility: High school students who are at least 14 years of age
The Stanford Center for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine and Imaging is a two-week virtual program that dives into the intersection of artificial intelligence and healthcare. As a participant, you will explore advanced topics within AI and medicine, attend mentoring activities, and engage in hands-on work with your peers.
This is a project-based program and you can expect to work on research projects that focus on practical applications of AI in healthcare. Previous students, for example, have developed a machine learning algorithm that can locate tubes in X-rays.
13. Stanford AI4All
Cost: $4,000
Program dates: June 18 – July 2
Application deadline: January 24
Eligibility: Current 9th graders/rising 10th graders who are at least 14 years of age. Basic math/computer skills are preferred. International students can apply as well!
Stanford AI4All is a virtual computer science summer program for high school students who are interested in artificial intelligence. During the program, you will learn about advanced topics like robotics, computer vision, natural language processing, and computational biology.
You will use Python, create dataframes and arrays, analyze data, and examine the biases and ethics involved in using AI. This research opportunity includes hands-on work as well and previous students have used AI for a variety of projects such as creating an autonomous car, analyzing social media content, or detecting diseases in X-rays.
14. Berkeley Coding Academy
Cost: $2,699.You get a higher discount if you enrol earlier. Limited scholarships are available
Program dates: July 14 – August 4
Application deadline: Rolling
Eligibility: Students aged 12-18
The Berkeley Coding Academy offers online STEM programs for students interested in data science and AI. The academy’s flagship program, ‘Data Science: The AI Journey’, is a three-week course during which you will learn Python, create data visualizations, navigate neural networks, build machine learning models, and develop AI applications.
You will also create your own coding notebooks, conduct original research, and work on hands-on projects using real-world datasets. By the end of the program, you will have worked on a project that you can add to your portfolio and receive a Data Science Scholar Certificate. You can find more information here.
15. Clinical Neuroscience Immersion Experience at Stanford University
Cost: $1,595
Program dates: June 16 – June 27
Application deadline: Applications are accepted on a rolling basis between December 15 – March 1
Eligibility: High school sophomores, juniors, and seniors
Stanford University’s Clinical Neuroscience Immersion Experience is a two-week online program that offers an introductory exploration of neuroscience, psychiatry and psychology. This is an intensive summer program that covers topics like eating disorders, forensic psychiatry, neuroimaging, trauma, brain stimulation, addiction, psychosis, clinical innovation, and more.
You will learn through interactive seminars, career development sessions, and Q&A sessions. It all leads up to a capstone project for which you will target a social issue related to this field of research, develop a solution and present your findings.
Image source – Berkeley Coding Academy