Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) Bioinformatics Intern
Our mission is to make biology easier to engineer. Ginkgo is constructing, editing, and redesigning the living world in order to answer the globe’s growing challenges in health, energy, food, materials, and more. Our bioengineers make use of an in-house automated foundry for designing and building new organisms.
We’re looking for talented biologists with a passion for computation who are excited to transform and interrogate our ever growing mountain of sequencing data in order to unlock the secrets of life. The Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) Bioinformatics team at Ginkgo Bioworks supports our organism engineering programs by delivering insights from genomic, transcriptomic, and metagenomic datasets.
As a Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) Bioinformatics Intern, you will gain experience in processing, manipulating, and interpreting large amounts of sequencing data, with a focus on genome assembly annotation. This opportunity will expose you to strategies for researching and benchmarking diverse bioinformatics tools, as well as writing and running your own NGS analysis tools and pipelines.
We are open to receiving candidates who are current undergraduate sophomores or juniors, or currently enrolled in master's or PhD level programs, at the time of application. The scope of the internship project will be tailored to the individual's skills and experience.
Please note: this role is primarily remote but the team will sponsor occasional trips onsite to our Boston offices.
The Ginkgo Bioworks Early Talent program is open to students who will return to their degree programs upon completion of their employment at Ginkgo. Candidates must be enrolled in a United States based institution and/or have work authorization in the United States to be eligible to participate.
Responsibilities
- Review available genome annotation tools for a range of organisms across the microbial tree of life
- Develop scripts or workflows to benchmark these tools
- Report progress and findings to relevant team members and stakeholders
Minimum Requirements
- Currently enrolled in a bachelor’s degree (current sophomore or junior at time of application) or currently enrolled in a master’s or PhD degree program
- Majoring in Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, Data Science, Biology, Computer Science with strong Biology coursework or demonstrated Biology projects
- Completion of a course in molecular genetics or genomics
- Completion of a course in data structures or equivalent
- Comfort in a scripting language (Python preferred)
- Familiarity with Unix
- Strong verbal and written interpersonal skills
- Strong organizational skills with high attention to detail
- Ability to work independently and collaboratively
Preferred Capabilities and Experience
- Previous experience with genome assembly, assembly annotation, and/or bioinformatics in general is a plus, but is not required
We also feel that it’s important to point out the obvious here – there’s a serious lack of diversity in our industry, and that needs to change. Our goal is to help drive that change. Ginkgo is deeply committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in all of its practices, especially when it comes to growing our team. Our culture promotes inclusion and embraces how rewarding it is to work with people from all walks of life.
We’re developing a powerful biological engineering platform, so we must remain mindful of the many ways our technology can – and will – impact people around the world. We care about how our platform is used, and having a diverse team to build it gives us the best chance that it’s something we’ll be proud of as it continues to grow. Therefore, it’s critical that we incorporate the diverse voices and visions of all those who play a role in the future of biology.
It is the policy of Ginkgo Bioworks to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and employment applicants.