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Department of Genetics

Undergraduate and Post-Baccalaureate Opportunities

Genetics & Genomics Internship at UNC

Deadline to Apply: Wed, Sept. 20th at 5pm

The Berg Lab in the Department of Genetics at UNC Chapel Hill is seeking (3) recent college graduates from populations that are underrepresented in the scientific workforce for a full-time, 9-month, internship program with a monthly salary of $4,000. The internship is part of the Clinical Genome Resource (ClinGen)-affiliated UNC Biocuration and Coordination Core (BCC). It is designed to support post-bac graduates who are interested in genetics and genomics and want to learn more about careers in these fields while gaining skills and experience in scientific evidence curation methods. Interns will be trained in ClinGen curation frameworks and participate in biocuration for a ClinGen Expert Panel(s).

Interns will be included in weekly meetings, seminars, and conferences and will gain a broad exposure to genomic medicine through opportunities to shadow genetic specialists at UNC Hospitals and visits to UNC’s high-throughput genome sequencing facility and the McLendon Molecular Genetics Laboratory. Interns will receive mentoring by UNC faculty, staff, and students, with careers and interests spanning genomic medicine, genetic counseling, public health genetics and genomics research, health equity and community engagement, ethical/legal/social implications research, and other relevant professions. There will also be opportunities to network with many diverse members of the basic science Genetics Department and members of the Program for Precision Medicine in Health care (PPMH).

Three internship positions are available for US citizens beginning in October 2022. Permanent, full-time positions are available upon successful completion of the internship.

Eligibility Requirements
  • BA/BS degree in a STEM-related field or a compelling argument for a degree in a different field
  • Interest in genetics and genomics with a desire to learn about various careers in these fields.
  • Overall GPA of 3.0
Application Requirements
  1. Transcript – unofficial photocopies are fine.
  2. CV/Resume
  3. 2 professional references we may contact
  4. Brief essay describing your interest in genetics and genomics. (500 words maximum)
Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities of Successful Applicants
Understanding of basic genetics concepts. Knowledge of basic software programs including Word and Excel as well as comfort with Zoom teleconferencing. Applicants should have good written and oral communication skills and strong critical thinking skills that can be applied to identifying, evaluating, and communicating findings from the medical literature.

TO APPLY: Email application materials to Dr. Courtney Thaxton (courtney_thaxton@med.unc.edu) by 5pm on Wednesday, September 20.

The Undergraduate Annotation Pipeline

The Clinical Genome Resource is an NIH-funded effort dedicated to creating a publicly available resource that defines the clinical relevance of genes and variants for use in precision medicine and research. In order to achieve this goal, curators collect and assess information from published literature and databases. Undergraduate students in UNC’s ClinGen Biocuration Core play a key role in this process. The Biocuration Core has developed a standardized procedure for annotating published articles using an online tool called Hypothes.is, and has created a tiered system of annotation for undergraduates, based on their level of experience. The Hypothes.is user highlights a snippet of text in a scientific/medical article and then fills out a template with information from the article such as the clinical symptoms of a patient, the genetic variant, segregation of genetic variants with a disease within a family, and any experimental details. Comprehensive training materials are available and undergraduate students work closely with our biocurators who are available to discuss any questions. Students also have the opportunity to attend weekly biocurator and lab meetings, if their schedule allows. Undergraduates may volunteer their time, or can be part of the work-study program.

Any students who are interested in literature annotation for ClinGen curation should contact Courtney Thaxton, PhD at courtney_thaxton@med.unc.edu or Jenny Goldstein, PhD, CGC at goldjen@email.unc.edu.