Intern, Plant Transformation

Job Title: Intern, Plant Transformation

Reporting to: Associate Director, Transformation

Location: Durham, North Carolina

About Pairwise:

Pairwise is a mission-driven, food+tech company dedicated to building a healthier world through better fruits and vegetables. Pairwise was founded in 2017 by scientists at Harvard University, MIT, and Broad Institute who are eminent in the field of gene editing, as well as biotechnology industry pioneers. Our team is tuned in to consumer food trends, and we believe that consumers deserve more variety and innovation in their fresh food choices. We are primed to deliver that innovation through one of the best gene-editing platforms in food and agriculture. Pairwise has an exclusive 5-year research collaboration with Bayer to develop products in corn, soybean, wheat, canola, and cotton. Plus, Pairwise is developing new types of consumer crops including berries and stone fruit. Pairwise is based in the start-up friendly Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina.

About This Role:

We are seeking passionate, engaging, ready-to-learn interns to join us for Summer 2024. We are looking for interns with majors in: Biology, Molecular Biology, Genomics, Statistics, Plant Science, Botany, Food Science, Marketing, Facilities Management, [add any other possible majors based on team interest]. Pairwise offers the opportunity of getting to work with industry leading scientists and professionals in a cutting edge, industry changing, food+tech company. Our interns will be integrated with our teams here at Pairwise to allow for hands on learning in a fast-paced start-up environment. Interns will also have season long cap-stone projects that will add real value and help the team resolve real-world challenges they are currently facing. We like to have fun at Pairwise, so the summer won't be all work and no play! Pairwise interns will not only have "Intern Only" meeting sessions to talk about their experience and share thoughts and feedback with each other, but will also have events to help with career and educational planning, and team building trips to share in the fun of summer in North Carolina.

Essential Functions:

• Work closely with the transformation and cross functional teams to develop experimental strategies to improve existing plant tissue culture and transformation systems in caneberry.

• Design, execute and interpret experiments related to plant tissue culture and Agrobacterium mediated transformation.

• Prepare stock solutions and media for tissue culture and plant transformation experiments.

• Learn and assist the team working on large scale plant production pipeline to deliver edited plants of caneberry.

• Work with the team on transformation system development, process improvements and technology developments.

• Document observations, collect data, maintain records, and track experiments via LIMs and electronic notebooks.

• Provide updates during team, company-wide meetings, and present final report upon completion of internship.

• Communicate progress and challenges to key stakeholders.

Required Education & Experience:

• A student currently enrolled in a Bachelors, Masters or PhD program in one of the following disciplines: Biology, Plant Science, Botany, Plant Biotechnology, Molecular Biology, or related subjects.

• Knowledge and hands on experience in plant tissue culture and transformation.

• Experience with aseptic techniques.

• Experience keeping accurate scientific records.

• Ability to work collaboratively, and independently on individual experiments.

• Excellent organization, oral and written communication.

• Experience or knowledge in laboratory safety practices, including use of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), SDS (Safety Data Sheet) and proper handling and disposal of laboratory waste.

Offerings:

• Paid internship experience in a field relevant to your studies!

• Real-world, industry work experience.

• Casual work environment.

• Mission-driven organization focused on creating healthier fruits and veggies.

• A cutting-edge, driven community looking to lead the industry in innovation and nutrition.

EEO Statement:

We're an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.

Don't meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Pairwise we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you're excited about this role but your past experience doesn't align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.