Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals - Summer Internship (Lawrence-Funded Internship)

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals utilizes RNAi therapeutics to treat genetic diseases. The Mechanistic Pharmacology group is located within Arrowhead’s Madison, WI Research and Discovery site.

Position Description: 

This position is intended to offer the intern exposure to STEM activities in support of their professional development. Briefly: 12-16 weeks starting early June and ending by mid-August, working on impactful project(s), receiving a company overview, preparing and delivering a presentation of work and future directions). This mechanism is also intended to develop talent pipelines to institutions training future biomedical researchers. The successful applicant will be selected from the pool, based on best-fit (TBD).

Mechanistic Pharmacology’s focus on fundamental discovery pursuits represents an ideal environment for the application of core concepts learned in the classroom to real-world, hypothesis-driven problem solving that is focused on understanding mechanisms impacting the efficacy of Arrowhead compounds. The intern will be exposed to various aspects of biomedical research: planning/strategy/data interpretation and presentation during weekly lab meetings, technical expertise in the laboratory (cell culture, assessments of gene expression, microscopy, flow cytometry, chromatography).    

Key Duties and Responsibilities: 

Undergraduate researchers come in all forms, with varied capabilities. Hosting a summer intern necessitates a range of plans that acknowledge potentially misaligned expectations. Furthermore, when researchers pursue activities they enjoy they tend to be more engaged, creative, and happier – some degree of personalization is typically required. Rather than list all those possibilities this will run with a set of assumptions and adjust as needed.

1) Embrace the Summer Internship Program experience 

a. Establish a foundation of knowledge supporting interrogations into RNAi-based therapeutics. (Techniques change over time and between sites, but the ability to design, execute, and interpret experiments is a critical life-long skill that will serve the intern in a variety of ways.) 

b. Engage in career development activities (project, Arrowhead informational activities, company events).

c. Develop presentation skills in a variety of contexts (informal discussions, weekly lab and group meetings, end of program presentation).

2) Perform dose-response studies using established cell lines and approaches developed by the group to assess relationships between trigger modifications and efficacy (TRiM S.A.R.). This assumes fundamental laboratory skills are present or can be quickly learned from other members of the group – sterile technique, cell culture, generation of dilution series, sample processing, qPCR, data processing/analysis/interpretation/presentation. This work will familiarize the intern with core concepts in experimental design, pharmacology (aka the biochemistry of drugs), Arrowhead design strategies, and will get the intern comfortable in the lab and within the group. The endpoint of gene knockdown is useful information as a starting point and enables rational pursuits such as why certain triggers fail to reach their predicted potential. 

3) Successful execution of dose-response studies will enable pursuit of more mechanistically-oriented questions: trigger uptake using live cell imaging with labeled subcellular compartments (kinetics, itinerary), biochemical isolation of RISC-loaded triggers, interrogations of trigger efficacy in the presence of cellular pathway inhibitors (biological contributions/constraints to TRiM function). All these approaches are helpful to the core goals of Mechanistic Pharmacology and merely require bandwidth to complete. Depending on the intern’s skills and passions we will move ahead in a manner that optimizes our needs with her skills and interests. 

Minimum Qualifications and Educational Requirements:

• Currently enrolled student at an Accredited University or College and majoring in Biochemistry, Chemistry, Engineering, Biology, or related area of study
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Strong problem-solving skills 
• Eagerness to learn new techniques

Preferred Qualifications and Competency Requirements: 

1) Fundamental understanding of biochemical principles

2) Previous laboratory experience (basic lab skills)

3) Curiosity and passion for discovery science combined with a fearless attitude toward trying new approaches

Compensation:
Lawrence University - Career Center pays Lawrence student a $5k stipend. Please ask Michelle Buchinger for more details about how funding works Michelle.m.buchinger@lawrence.edu