Intern- Bioinformatics in Edinburgh

AskBio Inc., a wholly owned and independently operated subsidiary of Bayer AG, is a fully integrated gene therapy company dedicated to developing life-saving medicines and changing lives. The company maintains a portfolio of clinical programs across a range of neuromuscular, central nervous system, cardiovascular, and metabolic disease indications with a clinical-stage pipeline that includes investigational therapeutics for congestive heart failure, limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, multiple system atrophy, Parkinson's disease, and Pompe disease.

Our vision: Pioneering science to create transformative molecular medicines.

Our mission: Lead innovative science and drive clinical outcomes to transform people's lives.

Our principles:

• Advance innovative science by pushing boundaries.
• Bring transformative therapeutics to patients in need.
• Provide an environment for employees to reach their fullest potential.

Our values:

• Be a Pioneer. We are not afraid of the impossible and to innovate to make gene therapies accessible to those in need.
• Cultivate Collaboration. Strive to be the best teammate, actively listen, openly communicate, and embrace diverse points of view.
• Embrace Responsibility. We are humbled by the enormity of our mission. We hold a relentless commitment to advance science and clinical outcomes for our patients, families, and caregivers.
• Raise the Bar. Continuously drive improvements and efficiencies. Seek and provide constructive feedback. Have a bias for learning and action.
• Act with Uncompromising Integrity. Be honest, transparent, and committed to doing what's right in every situation. Make clear commitments and follow through.

Position Summary: This internship provides an opportunity for a highly motivated doctoral student to gain hands-on experience applying bioinformatics and machine learning approaches to real biological data within a gene therapy research environment. The intern will join the Bioinformatics and AI/Machine Learning team at AskBio and contribute to a defined project focused on the integration and analysis of AAV capsid production and sequence-based data within AskBio's proprietary bioinformatics platform, PromPT. The project will emphasise data curation, exploratory analysis, and the application of existing machine learning models.

Working closely with experienced bioinformaticians, data scientists, and experimental scientists, the intern will learn how computational analyses are designed, implemented, validated, and interpreted in a translational research setting. The internship includes structured mentoring, regular feedback, and exposure to best-practice software and data workflows. At the end of the internship, the intern will deliver a final presentation describing the project, the analyses performed, and key learnings.

Job Responsibilities:

• Assist in identifying, collecting, and curating AAV capsid production and sequence-related datasets from internal and public sources.
• Perform data cleaning, quality control, and exploratory data analysis.
• Support the application and evaluation of existing machine learning or statistical models related to AAV production or sequence features.
• Assist with the integration of data outputs and model results into PromPT for downstream analysis and visualisation.
• Develop clear visualisations and summary analyses to support biological interpretation of results.
• Collaborate with bioinformaticians, ML scientists, and experimental researchers to understand project context and user needs.
• Participate in documentation, code reviews, and version-controlled development workflows.
• Assist with testing and validation of analysis outputs.
• Communicate progress through regular discussions and updates with the project team.
• Prepare and deliver a final presentation summarising the project, methods, results, and learning outcomes.

Minimum Requirements:

• Must be pursuing a Doctorate degree in Informatics, Bioinformatics, Data or Computer Science, AI or Machine Learning, or a related field.
• Must have completed their first year at the time of application.
• Coursework or academic experience in one or more of the following: bioinformatics, machine learning, data science, or computational biology.
• Basic programming experience in Python or a similar scientific programming language.
• Familiarity with fundamental concepts in machine learning or statistical data analysis.
• Interest in applying computational methods to biological or genomic data.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to communicate technical ideas clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Organised, curious, and eager to learn in a collaborative research environment.
• Available to work full-time, on-site in the Edinburgh office, during the summer internship period.

Preferred Education, Experience and Skills:

• Prior research, internship, or project experience in bioinformatics, machine learning, or data science.
• Exposure to biological sequence data (e.g. DNA, RNA, or genomic datasets).
• Familiarity with Linux or command-line environments.
• Experience with data visualisation libraries or tools.
• Awareness of software development best practices, such as version control (e.g. Git).
• Interest in gene therapy, genomics, or computational biology research.