Who we are:

Calico is a research and development company whose mission is to harness advanced technologies to increase our understanding of the biology that controls lifespan. We will use that knowledge to devise interventions that enable people to lead longer and healthier lives. Executing on this mission will require an unprecedented level of interdisciplinary effort and a long-term focus for which funding is already in place.

Position description:

Calico is seeking a summer intern to join a hybrid computational and experimental team within Calico Computing. In this position, you will work with our team to manipulate cell identity in the context of aging and age-related disease. Over the course of the summer, you will help us investigate methods to manipulate cell identity using a mixture of experimental biology, genomics, and machine learning. The successful candidate will be expected to communicate with both computational and biological scientists, to use computational genomics methods to generate hypotheses, and to interrogate these hypotheses by designing and executing biological or computational experiments. Candidates with mixed computational and experimental backgrounds are encouraged to apply. Ample opportunities will be provided for training and skill development through collaboration with data scientists and machine learning engineers within our Computing team and biological scientists in our collaborating labs.

Responsibilities:

• Interact with single cell genomics data and machine learning models (Python programming)
• Perform biological or computational experiments to investigate new hypotheses
• Communicate ideas and results to both computational and biological scientists

Requirements:

• Currently pursuing a Master’s or PhD in computational biology, bioinformatics, cell and molecular biology, bioengineering, or a related field
• Demonstrated proficiency programming in Python
• Experience designing and executing biological or computational experiments to provide unambiguous answers to biological questions
• Able to read genomics literature and implement computational methods
• Basic cell and molecular biology experience, e.g. familiarity with PCR
• Detail-oriented and organized
• Strong teamwork and communication skills
• Self-motivated with a “can-do” attitude
• Results-oriented and motivated to bring projects from inception to completion
• Available to work in South San Francisco throughout June, July and August of 2021 (due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on Calico’s business needs and operations, you may be required to work from home and/or your anticipated start date may change or be delayed)

Nice to Have:

• Experience with machine learning methods, e.g. familiarity with gradient descent
• Ability to implement machine learning models in PyTorch, Tensorflow, or JAX
• Experience with single cell genomics experiments
• Experience working with primary cell cultures or iPSCs
• General knowledge of next-generation sequencing techniques and analysis methods