Hello Brian!
I am contacting you to ask if you know of any candidate that might be suitable for internship positions that we have open for this coming summer in the computational chemistry group at Genentech. Short descriptions of each position and the position requirements can be found below. These internships can start at different times during the summer. We are recruiting for these positions now! It would be great if you could suggest candidates that fit the profiles and/or circulate the job descriptions among your students.
Any student that would like to apply for a position should send a cover letter and their CV to Genentech via the the link provided below:
https://www.gene.com/careers/
Here is some information on the logistics of the internship:
Internships are scheduled for the duration of 12 weeks
There will be 3-4 intern start dates in June 2017.
Interns are paid an hourly rate based on their degree level.
Recent (within 2 years) graduates of BS/BA or MS/MA programs are eligible. They are paid based on their most recent degree completed.
Travel assistance is given to all intern candidates
Interns are eligible to use the Genentech bus system at no cost, which connects the Genentech campus to several locations in the San Francisco bay area for morning and evening commutes.
All interns must clear a background check.
Interns do not receive medical/dental benefits and do not accrue vacation
We do not currently offer formal housing assistance for interns. However, we do provide networking assistance so interns can contact each other to make living arrangements.
I am also happy to answer any questions you or any candidates might have.
With best regards,
Dan
Project 1:
The intern will work with Alberto Gobbi to implement and evaluate a method for computing strain energies of drug molecules in their bound conformation. The strain energy is a component of the binding energy and significantly contributes to the strength of a small molecule protein interaction. A drug that binds its protein target without increasing its strain energy may be given at a lower dose, thereby reducing the risk of toxicity. Part of the work includes evaluating open source and commercial software for computing molecular energies at a quantum mechanical level. The other part will be the development of an automated workflow to perform the calculation on an in-house computer cluster at Genentech.
The candidate will learn about small molecule energetics, binding conformations, and ligand protein interactions. This work may also lead to a publication of a manuscript and or open source software. Candidates must be full-time undergraduate or graduate students, with a working knowledge of chemistry, familiarity with the Unix operating system and programming experience (preferably in Java or Python). A familiarity with computational chemistry software is a plus.
Project 2:
The intern will work with Paul Gibbons to improve our ability to use existing software to aid the design of small organic molecules. The work will include evaluating virtual libraries, improving them, evaluating current workflows for virtual molecule modification and proposing/ implementing improved workflows. The intern should have knowledge of basic UNIX commands and some scripting. In addition, the candidate must be a full-time undergraduate or graduate student who has completed a full year of undergraduate organic chemistry. Formal coursework in computer science would be advantageous but is not essential.