Graduate Student Research Intern (no undergrads)

Company: Adept Scientific
Location: Remote, must have access to research university
Type: Paid, part-time internship
Duration: 4 weeks
Hours: ~10 hours/week, flexible around your lab schedule

Requirement: You must be a current graduate student in the biological sciences with ongoing access to a university biological laboratory. 

About Adept

Adept is a techbio startup building an AI co-pilot app for bench scientists. Adept provides real-time, step-by-step guidance as you execute complex lab protocols. Think of it as an expert looking over your shoulder, catching small errors before they cost you a sample, a day, or a week of work. We are conducting a structured beta study to validate the app with real scientists, and we need a sharp, organized graduate student to lead that effort from inside the research community.

The Role

As an Adept Research Intern, you will be our eyes and ears inside the graduate student community. This is not a passive survey role. You will act as a peer researcher and field coordinator, recruiting fellow students, running structured testing and interview sessions, and delivering synthesized findings directly to the Adept team.

Your work will directly shape the product roadmap.

What You'll Do

1. Recruit Peer Volunteers

Reach out to fellow graduate students in your program or lab network and invite them to test the Adept app. We will provide a simple screening guide to help you identify the right participants who are active bench researchers who regularly perform complex, multi-step protocols such as library prep, single cell gene expression profiling, methylseq, or similar workflows.

2. Run Structured Testing and Interview Sessions

Using our provided interview guide, you will lead 60–90 minute sessions with each volunteer. You will walk participants through using Adept at the bench and gather structured feedback across four areas:

Problem Validation

• How often do the first few attempts at a new protocol fail, and why?
• What is the real cost of a failed experiment (e.g.  lost time, wasted samples)?
• What are the "unwritten rules" of successful protocol execution that never make it into written documentation?

App Concept Reaction & Usability

• What is the volunteer's gut reaction to an AI co-pilot at the bench?
• Would the app help them learn faster, reduce failed experiments, or improve confidence?
• What are their biggest concerns or points of skepticism and what would make the tool annoying rather than useful?

Lab Integration & Workflow Fit

• Has a volunteer ever abandoned a difficult protocol and switched to a competing kit?
• How do scientists currently check instructions mid-procedure with gloved hands?
• How would their PI react to this kind of tool in the lab?

Future Potential

• Could the app improve consistency in experienced researchers, not just trainees?
• Could a PI use it to "record" a novel protocol and create a reliable digital training module for new lab members?
• Would auto-generated, annotated protocol PDFs be valuable for lab notebooks?

3. Deliver Structured Reports to Adept

After each session, you will submit findings using a standardized reporting template we provide. No academic writing required. We want clean, structured data:

• Error counts and types observed during protocol execution
• Time-to-task and repetitions-to-mastery metrics
• Direct verbatim quotes from volunteers
• Ranked improvement suggestions
• NPS-style usefulness ratings

At the end of your engagement, you will compile a summary report synthesizing findings across all volunteer sessions.

Research Questions You'll Help Us Answer

• How many repetitions does it take a student to execute a protocol error-free without AI guidance versus with Adept?
• Does Adept reduce time-to-proficiency (i.e., time-to-mastery)?
• What types of protocol errors are most common, and does Adept's real-time intervention prevent them?
• What feedback do scientists have about how to improve the app?

Who We're Looking For

• Current graduate students (PhD) in molecular biology, genomics, cell biology, or a related field. Non-biological sciences, computer science, software engineering, information technology, and bioinformatics students are not a good fit for this role.
• Active bench researchers who regularly perform complex, multi-step protocols in genomics
• Strong communicators who can facilitate structured conversations with peers
• Detail-oriented and reliable — we need clean data, not informal notes
• Comfortable being honest and critical; we need tough feedback, not flattery
• You must have current and ongoing access to biological laboratories at a university

What You Get

• Competitive compensation: $22/hour
• Early access to the Adept beta app for your own personal use at the bench
• Co-acknowledgment in any published research findings
• Direct access to a founding team building tools for scientists, by scientists
• Flexible hours that fit around your existing lab and course schedule