[Internship] Bioinformatics

Eligo is building a pioneering platform technology that enables us to engineer phage-derived particles (Eligobiotics) to package and deliver modular therapeutic DNA payloads to genetically (re)program a wide range of bacterial species in situ. With such a capability, Eligo is poised to lead the new generation of precision microbiome engineering companies, and address serious unmet medical needs in the field of inflammatory diseases, infectious diseases and oncology.

We’ve raised €50 million from top investors and have recently published our work in Nature – this is a really exciting time to join the adventure!

As an intern in the Bioinformatics team, you will help build, test, and run bioinformatics pipelines and develop tools to assist researchers with data management and visualization.

• You will collaborate with Eligo’s bioinformaticians and with scientists across the company to learn about the problems that they are working to solve and assist them to implement solutions.
• Your contributions will have a direct, tangible impact on the cutting-edge products being developed at Eligo as they progress from the benchtop to the clinic!
• This is a six-month position with the exact start date depending on the student’s academic cycle, potentially followed by a full-time contract. We offer a competitive salary, with the exact amount depending on the candidate’s experience.

Tools we use & ♡: Python, Plotly/Dash, Pandas, Git, GNU/Linux, PostgreSQL, Docker, Conda, VS code, AWS, Google Cloud…

Bio-tools we use & ♡: Nextflow, AlphaFold2, Foldseek, MMseqs2, Mash, BioPython, Spades, BLAST, PHASTER, geNomad, HMMER, ETE, MultiQC, DnaChisel, Benchling…

Depending on the candidate's profile and ongoing team priorities, the internship will focus on one of several bioinformatics topics around phage–host biology, which may include:

• →Comparative genomics of bacterial strains, with a focus on features that shape phage–host interactions
• →Protein-level analyses of engineered phage-derived particles, including structure prediction and protein–protein interaction modelling
• →Host-range and receptor-interaction predictions to support the design of next-generation Eligobiotics

Across any of these directions, you will:

• →Discuss with microbiologists and synthetic biologists to understand their needs and integrate their feedback into your work
• →Build or extend reproducible pipelines and analyses to answer well-defined biological questions. The pipelines may be related, among others, to:
  • →DNA sequence optimization
  • →Applying protein language models and structure prediction to biological design questions
  • →Comparative and structural genomics at the bacteria–phage interface
  • →Interpreting genetic and epigenetic data
• →Cross-reference computational predictions with in-house experimental data
• →Bridge dry-lab and wet-lab by building automations for Eligo’s LIMS (laboratory information management system) to ensure biological entities and experimental results are thoroughly and properly documented through reproducible pipelines and decision-support tools
• →Develop results visualization modules to enable Eligonauts to make data-driven decisions to guide their experiments

• Master’s student in Bioinformatics, Computer Science, Data Science, Machine Learning, or related fields (from an EU country)
• Strong interest in biology and drug development
• Familiarity with Python; exposure to JavaScript is a plus
• Ideally, 3+ years of coding experience in any language (including university courses and personal projects)
• Good English speaking & writing skills
• Ability to communicate across disciplines
• Excellent problem-solving skills and attention to detail
• Exquisitely organized, strong passion for thorough code documentation
• Experience with data science and visualization
• General tech-savviness and nerdiness 🙂
• Autonomy, initiative, adaptation, and team spirit