research definitly won't hurt your application. i did research for 2 summers, after my soph and junior year of undergrad. both were in different labs, neither of which i am thinking about specializing in. it was a great experience. i learned a lot about general laboratory technique / procedure and also lots about the things they were studying. i don't think i want to do research at all in the future, but now i can say that i tried it out...otherwise i wouldn't know. so anyway, i'd recommend doing research if you can do it. it's a sweet opportunity if nothing else.
