The Institute of Metagenomics welcomes interns who study at the Faculty of Informatics of the University of Debrecen (mainly computer science, CS engineering and data science, both at BSc. and MSc. level) who are interested in metagenomics, bioinformatics or more generally in the computational and statistical processing of large data sets.
The faculty rules for internships are available on the following page. The compulsory duration of the internship is 320 hours at bachelor's level and 240 hours at master's level, i.e. either two, or one and a half months respectively, in case of a full-time internship. Half-time or other part-time intern positions are also possible. In these cases the length of the placement is proportionately longer in terms of months. If a student wishes to gain experience for longer than the mandatory practice period, we are happy to provide them with further work to practice on. In addition, the work started during an internship can form the basis of a thesis paper in informatics, and there is also the possibility to move on after attainment of the Master's degree to participate in a PhD course in bioinformatics.
Bioinformatics is a dynamically evolving multidisciplinary research area which has particularly important implications for economy, society and health. Bioinformatics analyses and interprets biological data using computational methods and tools. The convergence of biology and computer science and the resulting developments constantly create new opportunities for the analysis and interpretation of biological data. In addition to the sheer volume of data, the complexity of biological systems represents a particular challenge for researchers working with biological data. For this reason, development and adaptation of new methods and tools, in addition to the use of established methods, are always a priority in this field of research. Interpreting the information stored in genetic material helps to understand the spread and evolution of pathogens, to unravel interactions between organisms and even to study ecological processes.
At the Institute of Metagenomics, we study the genetic material of microbial communities and aim to understand the diversity of microbes as well as their impact on ecosystems and human health. DNA sequencing and genomic data analysis allow us to make sense of the function of different microbial species in a community by studying their gene pool and to map interactions between microbes.
Machine learning models are constantly used as tools and prove their worth in the field of bioinformatics. In addition to traditional machine learning methods (decision trees, clustering, regression, etc.), the adaptation of deep neural natural language models (e.g. BERT) to DNA sequences has been gaining ground in recent years. These allow us to map and interpret metagenomic data sets with higher accuracy than ever before, but their application is far from trivial and holds many technical and theoretical questions that remain to be investigated.
Typical tasks for our computer science interns are:
- analyzing DNA sequencing datasets,
- installing and configuring bioinformatics software, creating interfaces with other existing tools,
- developing and fine-tuning machine learning models,
- automation of tasks.
Ideally an intern should able to program in one or both of the programming languages commonly used in bioinformatics (Python or R), be comfortable with the Linux platform, have a basic knowledge of writing shell scripts, and have experience in managing virtual environments and using containers (Docker, Singularity). The intern is expected to be willing to learn, master and develop the skills required to do the job if they do not have this knowledge and experience.
Due to the nature of the assignment and the research topics, the intern is free to work flexible hours, and we welcome interns who would prefer to work from their home office and part-time.
This internship is an ideal opportunity for students who are interested in bioinformatics but possess no experience in the field. In this way they can learn about the field while also having access to professional development.
CONTACT: For more information about the internship at the Institute of Metagenomics, or to apply for an intern position, please write to metagenomika@med.unideb.hu. You can also contact the Head of the Institute (kg@med.unideb.hu) directly or the person responsible for our CS internship programme (petho.gergely@med.unideb.hu).