Winter Co-op/Computational Biology

Why GSK?

Uniting science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together.  

GSK is a global biopharma company with a special purpose – to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together – so we can positively impact the health of billions of people and deliver stronger, more sustainable shareholder returns – as an organisation where people can thrive. We prevent and treat disease with vaccines, specialty and general medicines. We focus on the science of the immune system and the use of new platform and data technologies, investing in four core therapeutic areas (infectious diseases, HIV, respiratory/ immunology and oncology). 

Our success absolutely depends on our people. While getting ahead of disease together is about our ambition for patients and shareholders, it’s also about making GSK a place where people can thrive. We want GSK to be a place where people feel inspired, encouraged and challenged to be the best they can be. A place where they can be themselves – feeling welcome, valued, and included. Where they can keep growing and look after their wellbeing. So, if you share our ambition, join us at this exciting moment in our journey to get Ahead Together.

Department Description

The Molecular Analytics Lab is part of the pre-clinical research and development unit of GSK’s Vaccine Center at Rockville, MD. The Molecular Analytics Lab is a research team that operates collaboratively with all the teams across the Vaccine Center and is involved in research activities related to the development of new and improved vaccine candidates. Research activities at the division are geared towards developing assays to detect, quantify and characterize nucleic acids and/or proteins at all stages of vaccines development using standard and emergent molecular methodologies along with next generation sequencing.

Job Description

We are looking for a highly motivated and enthusiastic intern/co-op student to join our Molecular Analytics Lab for six months. The intern will have an opportunity to drive the development of computational tools to support vaccine candidate screening and selection. This training will provide the intern with an opportunity to obtain hands-on experience with next generation sequencing data from single cell and spatial profiling experiments.

Minimum Qualifications

• Pursuing a Bachelors (Seniors only), Masters, or PhD in Bioinformatics, Data Science, Computational Biology, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, or related disciplines.
• 1+ years of hands-on experience, beyond coursework, in bioinformatics, computational biology, data science and/or applied math.
• 1+ years of combined experience in computational environments (Linux, HPC, cloud computing) and programming languages (R and Python).
• Completion of introductory coursework in cell and molecular biology.
• Must be able to work full-time (35-40 hours/week) throughout the 6-month co-op (February ~ July 2025).
• Must have an active student status and/or within 12 months post-graduation from a BS or MS degree program. Post-doctoral candidates are not eligible.

Preferred Qualifications

• Effective written and oral communication skills as well as presentation skills.
• Must be detail oriented; possess problem solving skills, and the ability to handle multiple tasks.
• Able to efficiently manage uncertainty, changes in priorities, and timeline restrictions.
• Working knowledge or wet lab experience with genomics, transcriptomics and/or next generation sequencing.
• Working knowledge of next generation sequencing technologies (Illumina, PacBio, Oxford Nanopore).
• Experience in genomics data analysis using established tools (bcl2fastq, samtools, bcftools, bowtie, bedtools, cellranger, Seurat, Scanpy).
• Experience in advanced statistics and AI/ML.

Eligibility Requirements

• Must successfully pass a drug screen and background check prior to assignment target start date.  
• If your skillsets are a match for this role, you will be contacted by our recruitment team with next steps to complete our internal World of GSK Assessment.
  • Please note, you must receive a passing score to move forward in the interview process. Once your assessment is complete, a recruiter will review your results and be in touch with next steps.
• Please note this role is virtual.

Benefits

• While GSK embraces a flexible work environment, we do require certain positions to be onsite. Candidates who are hired for an on-site role or hybrid role, and reside outside of 50-miles from their assigned work location, are eligible for relocation stipend. This is a one-time payment to help offset housing & relocation expenses. Please refer to the position details for the requirements of each position. 
• GSK Interns and Co-ops are offered a competitive hourly pay rate and benefits. Please note, benefits eligibility determined the month following date of hire.

Interested in learning more? Register now on our digital learning platform (GSK Get Ahead - Connectr) where you can access interview and assessment hints and tips, speak to a mentor and learn more about life at GSK.