Design Co-op, Computational Biology
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 in-house automated experimental and analysis for designing and building new organisms.
The Design team supports Ginkgo’s organism engineering programs by helping to design, test and analyze new strains, molecules and constructs. As a part of Ginkgo’s foundry we provide computational biology expertise to diverse projects, and work to expand Ginkgo’s genetic engineering platform with the development of novel computational tools, using statistical and machine-learning based approaches to develop world-changing methods for engineering biology.
As a Design Team Intern in Computational Biology, you’ll support Ginkgo’s organism engineering programs by 1) designing genetic constructs and libraries, 2) developing and analyzing the results of high throughput genetic screens to optimize strains, vectors and molecules, and 3) helping to expand Ginkgo’s genetic engineering platform with the development of novel computational tools.
Candidates who know lots of genetics, and are willing to learn python, or are expert programmers, eager to learn genetics, are encouraged to apply. You will be mentored, and allowed to choose a project, according to your abilities and interests.
Possible Projects include:
- Design libraries of tens of thousands of genetically engineered microbes, and use high-throughput assays and NGS to identify the best variants.
- Design, Build, and Test libraries of genetic elements to enable rational engineering in new and diverse species of microbes.
- Design and implement pooled & multiplexed approaches to screening enzyme variants, and predict further improvements through iterative design cycles.
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
- Design of new microbial strains and cell lines, and genetic constructs such as plasmids
- Design of experiments to test the effects of genetic perturbations and construct designs
- Conduct data analysis using standard data science tools to interpret the results of molecular biology experiments (e.g. sequencing experiments, proteomics)
- Communicate scientific and technical information within and across Ginkgo’s teams
- Document your work, including creating reports and notebooks that visualize and interpret data
Minimum Requirements
- Currently enrolled in a bachelor’s degree program with an interest in pursuing a Biology or Computational Biology career path. Preferred majors include Biology, Computational Biology, and Data Science or Computer Science with Biology / wet lab experience.
- Current sophomore or junior at time of application
- Willingness to learn and use a variety of software tools, including code and Ginkgo software under active development
- Ability to learn independently and gain expertise
- One of the following is required: (1) the candidate will have taken one or more biology courses, ideally genetics or molecular biology, or (2) the candidate will be comfortable programming in one or more languages, ideally python (please have a code sample prepared to submit during the interview process if needed).
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.