Genomic Data Internships

Applicants must be/have:

• 18 years or older at the time of application submission
• US citizenship or permanent residency status
• Active insurance for the duration of the program
• A computer capable of performing the required tasks 
• Enrolled as an active student in a Master or Doctoral Program 
• 3.0 + GPA 

• Identify two (2) individuals (professional or academic) who are willing to provide an assessment of your skills 
• Current GPA and all relevant unofficial transcripts (Note: Official transcript will be required after acceptance to the program during the onboarding process.)
• Resume (CV)
• Work history

Yes. Interns receive a monthly stipend based on the number of hours worked at the rate of $30/hour.

On average, a public health laboratory internship runs for 12 months. However, your internship could be extended at the discretion of your mentor.

Interns can work 10 or more hours depending on their agreement with their mentor and the season of their internship. The final hours will be determined after acceptance into the program. Genomic Data interns can work up to 80 hours per month.

You can apply at any time since the Genomic Data Internship application is open year-round.

Academic or professional contacts are ideal references. This could include a manager from a summer job or a professor who has overseen your work, for example.

Yes. Once a confirmed match has been made with a mentor, we will then require you to submit your official transcripts during onboarding.

No. Your reference information must be included before you can submit your application as final. The application sends an automated request to the contact’s e-mail provided in the professional reference field. Once the reference submits their response, the applicant will receive a notification. The applicant must then return to their application and “Submit as Final.”

Each completed application will be considered based on: 

• Academic experience
• Work experience
• Response to narrative statements
• Professional or academic reference evaluation

During the review phase, the APHL Internship Team will review applications against a set of rubrics. The applicant will be notified if their application is approved. Following approval, the Internship Team will begin matching the applicant to approved mentor projects. For details on the full application process, refer to the “Application Process” dropdown above.

• The review process will be completed within 7–10 business days, depending on application volume.
• Applications are matched based on preferred start month with soonest placements taking priority.
• Matching your application to a mentor is dependent on the availability​ of mentors. As mentors apply to the program, your application will be reviewed against their application. Once a match is made, you will be notified on the next steps.

Mentors are highly experienced public health laboratory professionals who guide the intern for the duration of the internship period. They work closely with the intern to provide oversight and support for the project you will be working on.

Projects are submitted by mentors and could fall into these focus areas:

• Bioinformatics
• Infectious diseases
• Informatics
• Newborn screening
• Quality management

Project examples include:

• Process raw sequencing data to consensus genomes and review
• Track, review and submit sequencing data to national and international data repositories, such as GISAID and the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) GenBank
• Perform quality analysis and review variants identified in the sequences.
• Follow guidance from federal partners to ensure compliance with best practices for quality analysis, documentation, annotation and variant identification
• Infer phylogenetic trees and local Nextstrain builds