Job Title: Intern, Delivery Technology
Reporting to: Lead, Delivery Technology
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 leafy greens, berries, and stone fruit, with the first product expected in 2023. 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 2023. We are looking for interns with majors in: Plant Science, Botany, Plant Biotechnology Biology, Genetics, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, Virology, or Genomics. Pairwise offers the opportunity of getting to work with industry leading scientists and professionals in a cutting edge, industry changing, food+tech company. 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; they 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.
In this position, we are seeking a motivated intern to join Pairwise’s Delivery Technology team to help achieve core aspects of the company’s R&D platform. The Delivery Technology team develops novel, cutting-edge methods for transgene-free delivery of CRISPR reagents to plants, something that is particularly important for editing in clonally propagated plants, such as blackberry. Following their development, our methods are used by the Transformation team’s production pipeline to produce our novel fruit and vegetable products. The team also creates and employs novel assays for testing editing tools before they enter the production pipeline. Core responsibilities as an intern in the Delivery Technology team will include helping the team develop and utilize new delivery and transformation technologies in plants. This is a great opportunity for students with an interest in plant biotechnology and/or plant tissue culture. Your contribution will be critical for helping Pairwise meet a set of aggressive targets for delivering new fruit and vegetable products while also building a culture where science is fun.
Essential Functions:
• Apply experience and innovation to drive continuous improvements in plant tissue and cell transformation protocols and support development of gene-edited products.
• Develop and execute key experiments in areas like:
o Plant transformation
o Gene editing
o Virology
o Tissue culture
o Rapid assays
o Molecular biology
• Work closely with staff scientists to establish and maintain reliable lab processes that fill critical R&D goals for genome editing technologies.
• Collaborate across multifunctional teams to find new insights.
Required Education & Experience:
• A student currently enrolled in a Bachelors, Masters or PhD program in one of the following disciplines:
o Plant Science, Botany, Plant Biotechnology, Biology, Genetics, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, Virology, or Genomics.
• At least one semester of experience working in an academic or industrial biological science research laboratory. Academic courses with laboratory components do not satisfy this criterion.
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.
Physical Demands:
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to sit and use hands to finger, handle or feel, and techniques that require fine motor skills and repetitive motions. The employee is occasionally required to stand and walk. The employee must frequently lift and/or move up to 10 pounds. The employee is regularly required to talk or hear. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus.
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.