Protein Design Intern

At Syngenta our goal is to build the most collaborative and trustworthy team in agriculture providing top-quality seeds and innovative crop protection solutions that improve farmers success. We invite you to help shape the future of agriculture and play a role in safely feeding the world while caring for our planet.

Syngentas Bioinformatics Team is seeking a Protein Design Intern in Durham NC. This internship role will be part of a high-performance scientific team developing cutting-edge skills in computational protein design to deliver innovative solutions for agricultural biotechnology.

As part of Syngentas Emerging Talent Program you will gain hands-on experience exposure to day-to-day business operations and opportunities to apply your academic knowledge to real-world challenges while developing your professional skills.

Accountabilities:

• Apply structural bioinformatics methods to discover novel proteins.
• Develop computational workflows that integrate sequence- and structure-based search algorithms to identify and rank protein candidates.
• Leverage protein structure-based search workflows using tools such as FoldSeek ESMFold and Boltz.
• Perform structural analysis and annotation of protein candidates.
• Develop Python/Bash scripts for data processing and visualization.
• Document workflows create user guides and present findings to cross-functional teams.
• Collaborate with other scientists to refine research strategies based on biological insights.
• Share results and learnings at team meetings and educate team members on workflows and results.

Qualifications :

Required Qualifications:

Education:

• Current MS or PhD student in Bioinformatics Computational Biology Structural Biology or a related field.

Technical:

• Proficiency in Python and/or R for bioinformatics (PyRosetta a plus).
• Basic understanding of protein structure concepts (protein domains structural alignment).
• Familiarity with protein structure prediction methods (AlphaFold2 ESMFold Boltz).
• Familiarity with protein structure visualization (PyMOL or ChimeraX).
• Experience with Linux/Unix command-line environments.
• Knowledge of sequence analysis tools (BLAST alignment methods).

Analytical:

• Ability to work with large datasets and implement reproducible computational workflows.
• Strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail.
• Effective written and verbal communication skills.

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience with protein structure comparison tools (TM-align FoldSeek).
• Experience with protein function prediction tools (InterProScan or ESM-based methods).
• Knowledge of protein databases (PDB UniProt AlphaFoldDB ESM Metagenomic Atlas).
• Experience with HPC or cloud computing (e.g. AWS).
• Self-motivated with the ability to work independently and collaboratively.
• Enthusiasm for learning new computational methods and tools.
• Experience presenting technical work to multidisciplinary audiences.

Additional Information :

Salary for this position ranges between $20 - $45 hourly.

What We Offer: 

• A culture that celebrates belonging and collaboration promotes professional development and strives for a work-life balance that supports the team members. 
• Competitive wages
• Ongoing career development resources
• The opportunity to work on meaningful innovative projects that solve problems

Syngenta is committed to creating a culture that celebrates belonging and collaboration promotes professional development and strives for a work-life balance that supports the team members 

Syngenta has been ranked as a top employer by Science Journal. Learn more about our team and our mission here:  is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate in recruitment hiring training promotion or any other employment practices for reasons of race color religion gender national origin age sexual orientation marital or veteran status disability or any other legally protected status. 

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Remote Work :

No

Employment Type :

Intern