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Process Development and Engineering 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 exceptional Process Engineering Interns who are enthusiastic about learning more about the challenges of Fermentation scale-up and subsequent purification processes. Ginkgo’s goal is to grow everything and as a result our team and team members are excited by the prospect of working with multiple types of organisms in fermentation and also a variety of purification processes. The Process Development and Engineering Team is constantly assessing project viability for scale-up and providing much needed proof of concept production for the foundry and its customers, as well as much more.

As a Process Development and Engineering Intern, you will have the opportunity to work side-by-side with Downstream and Upstream Process Engineers in scaling fermentation and purification processes. You will help validate equipment & experimental protocols and have the opportunity to deliver on impactful scientific programs during your time at Ginkgo. Process Interns will be able to learn through hands-on work with our process development and engineering team the basics of process development and scaleup practices in a variety of synthetic biology fields. 

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
  • Perform bench scale assays and proof-of-concept experiments
  • Validate equipment protocols and new equipment
  • Collaborate and coordinate with Ginkgo’s fermentation, upstream process engineering (USP), & downstream process engineering (DSP) to successfully support delivery of products & processes to customers that leverage Ginkgo's engineered organisms
  • Set up and monitor fermentations at the 1 – 50 L scale
  • Curate, collate, summarize, and organize experimental data 
  • Clean and maintain both glass fermenters, steam-in-place (SIP) fermenters, and other downstream equipment
  • Maintain the process laboratory in an organized and safe manner
  • Learn as much about fermentation & downstream processing as possible!!!

Minimum Requirements
  • Currently enrolled in a bachelor’s degree program 
  • Majoring in chemical engineering, biochemical engineering, chemistry or related field
  • Current junior or sophomore at time of application 
  • Enthusiasm for both computational and hands-on experimentation
  • Willingness and enthusiasm to work in a laboratory setting
  • Strong attention to detail and level of efficiency with laboratory work
  • Ability to work well within a team in a fast-paced environment, and balance multiple projects simultaneously
  • Excellent communication, problem solving, and data analysis skills

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.