Genomics Research Intern

About the Role

We are conducting an exploratory research project at the intersection of bioinformatics, statistical genetics, and sports science. The aim is to design and prototype computational workflows that can analyze genomic datasets and generate pilot research outputs.

As a Research Intern, you will gain hands-on experience in:

• Curating and prioritizing genetic variants from public resources such as Ensembl, NCBI, and GWAS Catalog.
• Building small-scale pipelines for processing sequencing/genotyping data.
• Developing basic trait-related scoring methods (polygenic indices, QC metrics) in a research-only context.
• Prototyping lightweight reporting frameworks to present exploratory results with appropriate disclaimers.

Responsibilities

• Data curation & evidence review (literature, public databases).
• Pipeline development (VCF/PLINK data handling, variant annotation using tools such as Ensembl VEP or ANNOVAR).
• Basic statistical analyses (e.g., indices, QC checks).
• Prototype report/dashboard development (HTML/PDF/Streamlit).

Requirements

• Current undergraduate / postgraduate student in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Human Genetics, Biomedical Engineering, Data Science, or related fields.
• Familiarity with genome databases (Ensembl, NCBI Gene/ClinVar/dbSNP, GWAS Catalog).
• Comfort with Python/R, Linux command line, and version control (Git).
• Basic understanding of GWAS concepts and population genetics.
• Strong interest in applying data science methods to genomics research.

Nice to Have

• Experience with sequencing/imputation tools.
• Familiarity with HPC or cloud environments.
• Knowledge of Jinja2/Streamlit/Flask for simple dashboards.
• Prior work with large-scale public datasets (e.g., 1000 Genomes, UK Biobank).

What You’ll Gain

• Practical exposure to bioinformatics pipelines and statistical genetics.
• End-to-end experience: variant curation → pipeline → scoring → reporting.
• Mentorship from researchers at IIT Madras and collaborators.
• Opportunity to contribute to exploratory academic research.

Additional Information

• Job Type

  : Paid Internship

• Industry

  : Research Services

• Location

  : Chennai

• Disclaimer

  : This internship is for

  research and educational purposes only

  . The work is exploratory and not intended for clinical, diagnostic, or commercial use.