Research Intern, Systems 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 an in-house automated foundry for designing and building new organisms.  
 

The Systems Biology Team is looking for someone who is excited about the promise of synthetic biology and the premier role of biomolecular engineering in biology by design.

Our team works to address the complex challenge of engineering metabolism. We utilize state-of-the-art approaches integrated with experimental data from our internal foundry collaborators to generate predictions that inform metabolic engineering projects.

As a Research Intern, Systems Biology, you will help develop in silico models for rational metabolic engineering and apply interdisciplinary technologies to address the complex challenge of metabolic engineering. You will support Ginkgo’s Design-Build-Test-Learn cycle by building workflows to integrate data and make actionable predictions. If you view life as a series of optimization problems, then this could be a great fit for you!
 

Possible projects include:

• Developing a suite of novel metabolic engineering tools which serve biological systems of high complexity such as plants and mammals
• Developing workflows which use state of the art algorithms to understand and predict impact of biological designs

Please note:  The Systems Biology team is open to candidates choosing a fully remote role setup or a hybrid schedule setup (i.e. onsite 3 days, remote 2 days per week) at our Emeryville, CA offices. A relocation stipend would be provided for a hybrid role in Emeryville, CA.
 

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
 

• Apply flux-balance analysis to metabolic engineering projects. Develop pipelines to facilitate the use of next-generation models in a fast-paced metabolic engineering environment.
• Engineer data flows to ensure that model predictions can be compared to experimental data. Decipher biological data complexity to highlight key features that will help teams reach milestones quicker.
• Execute current workflows, and implement scientific improvements (e.g. new modeling or analysis capabilities) and code improvements (e.g. new features implementation, documentation, testing) towards a streamlined workflow
• Develop multiple important skills in computational systems biology, across both science and coding. We expect that most candidates will have more prior expertise in one or the other, and we are happy to tailor our training accordingly

Minimum Requirements

• Currently enrolled in a Master’s or PhD program with a concentration in Biology, Biological Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Computational Science, or Computer Science or Data Science with demonstrated understanding of biology through academic coursework and/or hands-on experience (please include these details on your resume)
• Experience with at least one software programming language (Python preferred)
• Strong verbal and written interpersonal skills

Preferred Capabilities and Experience
 

• Familiarity with developing quantitative models for interpretation of biological data, and applying the learnings to generate hypotheses and testable predictions a plus.
• Exposure to at least one type of metabolic modeling software environment (i.e. COBRA, RAVEN)
• Experience in visualizing and analyzing metabolic networks
• Experience with machine learning for data analysis
• Enthusiasm to learn about biological modeling and its application in an industrial setting
   

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.