2025 Summer Intern - Computational Chemistry Scientist

2025 Summer Intern - Computational Drug Discovery

Department Summary

The Computational Drug Discovery group within the Discovery Chemistry department is seeking a highly creative and motivated scientist for a summer internship position. The goal of the Computational Drug Discovery group is to support early stages of drug discovery with new and existing tools, from molecular modeling to AI. Recently our group, in collaboration with MLDD (Machine Learning in Drug Discovery), has constructed vast datasets of 3-dimensional structures of small molecules bound to protein targets.

This summer internship will focus on exploring and leveraging these rich datasets with structural informatics and machine learning approaches. As part of the internship experience, the candidate will participate in a range of activities in the Discovery Chemistry department as well as across the broader Genentech campus, gaining valuable insight into a potential career at the intersection of AI and computational drug discovery.

This internship position is located in South San Francisco, on-site.

The Opportunity

• Explore features of protein-ligand interactions in large 3-dimensional structure datasets.

• Develop machine learning methods for prediction of properties underlying protein-ligand interactions, including relative binding free energies.

• Collaborate closely on dataset curation and ML model training with the MLDD group.

• Collaborate with computational chemists, machine learning scientists, chemists, and structural biologists across the organization.

• Apply trained ML models and insights to ongoing projects with potential for portfolio impact. Report and present research findings and developments; publish findings in scientific journals and/ or ML conferences.

Program Highlights

• Intensive 12-weeks, full-time (40 hours per week) paid internship.

• Program start dates are in May/June (Summer).

• A stipend, based on location, will be provided to help alleviate costs associated with the internship.

• Ownership of challenging and impactful business-critical projects.

• Work with some of the most talented people in the biotechnology industry.

Who You Are (Required)

Required Education: You meet one of the following criteria:

• Must be pursuing a Bachelor's Degree (enrolled student).

Required Majors:

• Chemistry, Physics, Chemical Engineering, Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related field.

Required Skills:

• Basic understanding of protein-ligand interactions; small molecule binding affinity.

• Machine learning expertise (preferably with PyTorch).

• Fluent in Python.

• Interest in protein-ligand interactions, computational drug design, machine learning in drug discovery.

Preferred Knowledge, Skills, and Qualifications

• Excellent communication, collaboration, and interpersonal skills.

• Complements our culture and the standards that guide our daily behavior & decisions: Integrity, Courage, and Passion.

• Strong research interest in protein-ligand interactions and AI applied to drug discovery.

• Experience with one or more cheminformatics or drug discovery toolkits (e.g. OpenEye, RDKit).

• Experience with modern Python frameworks for deep learning (e.g. PyTorch).

• Proficiency with Cheminformatics.

• Experience working with large chemical and biological datasets, especially structure-based data.

Relocation benefits are not available for this job posting.

The expected salary for this position based on the primary location of California is $45.00 hour.Actual pay will be determined based on experience, qualifications, geographic location, and other job-related factors permitted by law. This position also qualifies for paid holiday time off benefits.

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