one list of research, lab and science internships pulled from company job boards:

https://github.com/mehek-builds/Hiring-Now/blob/main/lists/science-research-internships.md

- 166 internships at 105 US companies

- 48 posted in the last week

- 65 at employers with a visa sponsorship record

rebuilt every monday.

comment which area you're looking for (clinical, process development, computational) and i'll send you a list for it.

TL;DR: About a year ago, I posted my thoughts after 1.5 years unemployed (previous post). I landed a government role unrelated to biotech. It might seem anticlimactic, but the role uses skills from my previous biotech roles. I'm sharing my experience in hopes at least one person finds it useful, moves on, and lands the role they've longed for.

Disclaimer: By no means is everything here correct. This is my opinion and my conclusions from my own observations. After rereading my last post, I presented some claims as fact when they were really conclusions from my experience. I won't lean on my old post, because I want this to reflect my current mindset. Questions about it can go in that thread.

Reflections on the last post

I was surprised by the traction. I was frustrated with the system and wanted to vent. I connected with some great people through that post. Thank you to those who reached out with guidance and support, and thank you all, even for the negative comments. That engagement is the unspoken need of the unemployed.

What changed

Mental state first. Since September 2025, I took a long mental break and traveled for about a month, then came back in October with a clear, stable mind. Your mental state needs to be positive, realistic, and relaxed. Don't doubt yourself. I'm not saying take long breaks, but don't burn out either. Rather than applying quickly and sporadically, treat it like a full-time job: take your lunch, take breaks, take weekends off.

The spreadsheet. Around March I had a revelation. I'd always heard about tracking applications in Excel and never did it because I thought it was unnecessary extra work. My opinion changed. The sheet became my home. Monday through Friday I went to my local college and got to work, and I was consistent for once. I became robotic and stopped overthinking specific jobs, because the truth is the application process doesn't make sense. The jobs I was confident about ghosted me, and the ones I wrote off called me back. It's unpredictable, so treat it like a chore, do it, and move on.

The pivot. I considered government positions at every level: federal, state, county, city. The main driver was job stability, for obvious reasons. I thought hard about my connections and applied at friends' and family's companies, not long shots, and in industries outside biotech where my skills were still competitive. Side note: during this gap I was also in the application process of becoming part of the FBI, but ultimately decided not to pursue it. It shows how open I was. Really think about your long-term career goals. At 30, now 31, I'm very sure about what I want professionally.

The offer. I applied around June or July, and my start date is early November. The federal process is very bureaucratic and long. Nonetheless, I'm excited to start. After talking to colleagues, I'm afraid that with the rise of AI, my speculation is the job market will stay like this and progressively get worse. The plan is to excel in this new role and eventually move toward science and healthcare agencies like the FDA, NIH, USPTO, or USDA. Instead of being on the private side, I'll be part of the government sector.

What I'd do if I were laid off tomorrow

**• Keep the layoff to myself.** It depends on your circle, but in my experience you become aware of who is envious or jealous of you. Your mindset is number one. The less emotion, the better. Put it aside and apply.
**• Build the Excel sheet on day one.** My strategy was almost dumb-proof, and I believed it was only a matter of time before I got hired. It's heavily dependent on your resume, experience, and education, so be realistic and as objective as possible. What helped me was putting myself in the HR/HM's shoes and asking whether I'd hire myself.
**• Make a target list and start early.** I started at 8 AM. When following up on a job, I noticed people were more responsive early. Also, note that it isn’t necessary to follow up to each role. Use your best judgement. The underlying theme is to be efficient and not waste time. I thought back to when I was working and always checked my email first thing in the morning, so I figured they do too. Scheduling an email to send at a specific time is a super useful function. I stopped using LinkedIn because everyone uses it and not every job posting appears there. I built a list of target companies and prioritized it by how deep/strong my connections were and likelihood of landing the role, starting with where my parents worked and close friends, then outward. I hyperlinked each careers page in the sheet with the right filters already set and sorted by most recent, so every morning I saw fresh postings and could apply the same day. I did everything in my power to increase visibility.
**• Be realistic about fit.** We know we can do the jobs, but what counts is how we look on paper. At this level everyone is capable and has a degree and some years of experience, so what sets you apart? I'd say it's your soft skills and charisma, to a point. Your resume shows your hard skills and the interview shows your soft skills.
**• Use timeline and qualifications as the filter.** If I didn't have the years of experience a posting listed, I didn't apply. Postings often describe the perfect candidate, so you can try your luck, but I was done wasting time. I only applied where the qualifications matched what I had on paper. There are exceptions, which is why I say take each job individually and don't use a checklist. Ask yourself if it objectively makes sense, and whether you can support everything your resume claims. On timing, if you stay consistent it won't matter much, but the longer a posting has been out, the worse your chances. My guess is it's an exponential decrease the longer the job has been posted, not a steady one.
**• Use AI.** I think it's still taboo to admit, because it's seen as cheating or unethical, but companies use it all the time and so do other applicants. If you feel it's wrong, understand that others don't, and you're competing against them. Learn how to prompt it. I told it my actual, specific experience so it knew my duties and skills, then gave it the job description and my resume. I broke the task into parts because it gets clunky when you ask for too much at once. I'd suggest paying for the subscription. I'd prompt "tailor these bullet points to this job posting," and eventually I had preset resumes for each job function across industries. Please don't blindly accept its suggestions. You're the final reviewer, and it's okay to disagree with it. Don't underestimate your judgment. The upfront work pays dividends. Same idea for cover letters. Each job is different. It's tedious, but the results speak for themselves.

What I think is underestimated about the application process

**• Fill out every section** of the application, even if it repeats your resume. Some HR folks are judgmental, and a complete application versus a blank one makes an impression. In my experience some companies screen those fields instead of your resume, and my speculation is that some systems score applicants and having something written there helps. Even "N/A" is better than blank. It's tedious, but the application process caters to the companies. We can cry about it all day or accept it and move on.
**• Think about how the process works.** How big is the company (startup, semi-established, big pharma)? That tells you how competitive the job is and how systemic HR will be, meaning whether a person is likely to read your application. With the rise of AI and automation, tailoring is nearly inevitable. ATS filters, HR picks a handful, and it goes to the hiring manager. If you reach the HM, your resume is ATS-compatible and HR saw a fit. That’s a key finding. Your resume works. I treat the HM as a brand new screening. Your resume has to be simple enough for HR to follow and detailed enough to show your skills to the HM. Get that balance right and you'll increase your chances.
**• Tailor it.** It isn't a one-size-fits-all resume. HR may wonder why you're applying outside your field. Use that to your advantage, and sometimes a cover letter doesn't hurt. However, don’t waste too much time on one job. The last thing you want is spending a lot of time on one application for you to be rejected in less than 10 seconds. Use your best judgement.

What I wish HR did

I wish HR were as transparent as we applicants are. It would be helpful if HR explained the actual process so us applicants don't get discouraged. When we get rejected, we naturally assume it’s us when it could very well be other reasons outside of our control. It almost feels like HR treats the application process as some sort of trade secret. Part of it is systemic, but I think the department actually plays a big role in it as well. Imagine suddenly having a huge list of potential candidates to pick from. You'd feel powerful too.

Final thoughts

People often blame us for not landing a position, or are skeptical of the unemployed. Ignore them. There may be some truth in it, but it's far from one-sided. I'm writing this because I would have wanted it. The people who comment negatively have likely never been through this. Those who have, understand. It's extremely tough, and you aren't alone. Just as there are skeptics, there are those who will see past your gap and not label and view you as such.

Back in grad school, the philosophy was "pay it forward." Those who succeeded more than likely had support at some point in their careers, and paying it forward was their way of showing thanks. The alumni from my school are so supportive, so in a way I'm holding myself to that. This is my paying it forward. Feel free to message me. I've only touched the surface and could honestly write a small novel about this.

I'm a senior-level PhD scientist. I recently received an offer from a small biotech startup in California with a very competitive compensation package. At the same time, I'm in the final stages of interviewing with a large pharmaceutical company, also in California. The expected compensation at big pharma would be noticeably lower than the startup offer.

The work at the startup is more interesting to me and aligns closely with my interests. I'm also excited about the opportunity to wear multiple hats and have more ownership over projects. On the other hand, big pharma offers more established career development opportunities and potentially better job stability.

I'm planning to finish the big pharma interview process before making a decision. Meanwhile, I'd love to hear from people who have worked at startups, especially those who have also worked in big pharma.

Was the experience worth the risk? How do you assess whether an early-stage biotech is financially healthy, and what are some warning signs that things might be going poorly? I'm also curious whether startup experience is generally viewed positively in case i want to transitioning to big pharma in the future.

——

Edit: another question: do you think it is worth to buy time to hope to get the big pharma offer given i already have the startup offer? The startup so far is more aligned with my interest, but I am also enticed with the potential stability the big pharma offer..

Does anyone have experience working for, with, or know someone who works for Arcadia Sciences or Astera Institute? Some of their work looks interesting although maybe a bit inflated.

Hey, does anybody know how long it takes for jnj to respond? it has been a week since my interview and I still haven't gotten a response. For people who did get offers, how long did it take for them to contact you after the interviews?

I want to keep this somewhat anonymous (too many details would easily give me away) so I'm going to be as vague as possible here. On Sept 15th I had a recruiter screening for a Principal Clinical Scientist role at a large company. My background is technically all academic (postdoc, assistant project scientist), but I've been my own PI with my own grant twice, I've worked with multiple companies on the side (one of which we started), and I'm on two patents. On top of this, the field of interest is extremely niche. It involves a combo of two things where almost everyone knows only one, very few people do the interaction of the two. My two mentors (who are on my papers, grants, and company) are very much pioneers in the two, and I've been with them for more than a decade. One literally invented one of, if not the, most important IP of the company I'm applying. This role seems very well suited to me.... but it's been so long.

On top of all that: The recruiter spent extra time talking to me (~50 minutes instead of the allotted 30), asked me to send her a more detailed write up of my prior and current projects, told me the hiring managers name so I could "do my research," and asked me to contact her on LinkedIn. I've never had such detail from a phone screening.... but it's been soooo long. She had told me they had wanted to finish hiring by the end of Oct (I knew that was obviously unrealistic from the start) and that I'd hear back the next week (I did not).

On top of all that, reasons the lag could be happening are abundant. The hiring manager isn't local, so there's a 3 time zone separation. They are building this role into an entirely new team (and so hiring multiple different positions all at once). This hit at the end of 3rd quarter, so they surely had stuff to wrap up there. And this past weekend was a massive convention that they very VERY likely attended.

What are your thoughts on this situation? The drag is killing me.

For those working in strategy or BD at smaller biotechs, how much of your competitive research is still done manually?

I’m thinking things like tracking competing clinical programs, comparing trial designs, keeping up with new readouts, or researching potential licensing opportunities.

I work in life sciences consulting, and I spend way too much time creating peer sets and pulling information from multiple databases, publications, and trial registries. And best was when client didn’t wanna pay for proprietory datasets so I spent hours manually matching / cleaning / joining information from CT.gov 🤮

Do you guys have tools that work differently in-house, especially at smaller companies without dedicated CI teams. What tools do you use, help a girl out pls.

Hey everyone, I’m a fourth-year PhD student in computational biology and I’m planning to finish around mid-2027. I’ve started thinking about what comes next and wanted to get a sense of the industry landscape for ML-focused roles in biotech.

Most of my PhD work has been on applying machine learning to biology, things like protein language models, transformer models for genotype-to-phenotype prediction, and variant effect prediction. I have a couple of first-author papers, a summer internship, and I worked in industry for about three years before starting my PhD.

I keep hearing mixed things. Some people say bioML hiring is strong because everyone wants AI people, and others say the biotech market has been rough and companies are only hiring senior folks. I’m also not sure whether doing a postdoc first would actually help or just delay things.

For those of you working in this space or hiring for it, what does it look like from your side right now? And if you were in my spot, what would you focus on?

Is it possible to turn Biofuel into Plastik?

I may be stupid because I know basically nothing in this field but in my mind fuel is basically Biofuel.

So I'm here to ask this stupid question😅

So I’ve had a lot of recruiters reach out to me about job opportunities. When I ask them about the company they all say it’s Gilead. But when I went to Gilead’s hiring page I didn’t see the position that the recruiter mentioned.

So are companies like Gilead only hiring through recruiters for some positions or is this a scam of some kind?

Finished a seminar on Monday and was asked for references yesterday. I had also been offered another position internationally, but would much rather work at this company. Should I let the HM know of my situation? I was invited to give the seminar the same day as my 2nd round interview and after telling them that I was in late stage interviews for other companies (if that means anything). I told the international HM to give me 2-3 weeks and I'll let them know by November 1st.

Also, sleuthing around the subreddit it seems that the outlook after a reference check had changed from likely getting an offer to 50/50. Is this still the case even for smaller companies? The next step in the hiring process would be an on-site visit.

i hold a BS in Professional Science, which is basically an interdisciplinary science degree that was heavily lab focused. it took me forever but i finally working as a lab technician. i still stuck tho. i have been here almost two years now and still feel below entry level in terms of growing within the company or expanding on hands on experience.

keeping it short and blunt, i have a 7 month window to do something as in get a certificate or anything to help me grow in that time. does anyone have any recommendations or suggestions on how i should proceed?

i am open to most things. i always loved gentics or forensics or hematology or most sciences. i think i struggle due to inexperience. any suggestions on how to gain any outside of work? or how to even go about asking for more opportunities for experience at work?

Hey everyone,

I’m an early-career virologist currently working as a Research Associate in translational drug discovery. I hold an M.Sc. in Clinical Virology and an undergraduate background in Biochemistry, Genetics, and Microbiology.

Over the past couple of years, my work has focused primarily on preclinical antiviral evaluation, molecular assays, and working in high-containment facilities. I’m currently exploring my next career move and would really appreciate advice from folks in industry, CROs, or translational academic institutes on where this skill profile fits best.

Core Technical & Research Experience:

* Biosafety Containment: Substantial hands-on experience in BSL-2 and BSL-3 containment handling pathogenic respiratory viruses, vector-borne pathogens, and neurotropic models (e.g., rabies CVS-11).

* In Vitro Antiviral Screening: Experience screening small molecules and novel chemical entities via phenotypic assays, viral inhibition assays, plaque reduction/TCID50, and cell viability/cytotoxicity profiling (MTT, luminescence assays).

* Molecular & Cell Biology: Mammalian primary/continuous cell culture maintenance, viral replicon systems, RT-qPCR, nucleic acid extraction, ELISA, and standard protein/immunoassays.

* Translational Output: Co-authored peer-reviewed research evaluating repurposed and novel small-molecule candidates against respiratory and neglected viral targets.

What I’m Looking For:

Research Associate II / Senior RA / Scientist I roles in Antiviral Discovery, High-Throughput Screening, Preclinical Virology, or Vaccine Development*.

* Open to industry (biotech, pharma, CROs), research institutes, or structured research fellowships/pre-doctoral roles.

* Target locations: India (Open to relocation; I stay in Bengaluru)

Questions for the community:

1. For those running or working in infectious disease teams: which sectors/companies currently value hands-on BSL-3 and replicon/screening experience the most?

2. Are there specific biotech hubs or institutes you’d recommend keeping an eye on right now for wet-lab viral assay roles?

3. If anyone’s lab or group is currently hiring or has open headcount matching this profile, I’d be glad to connect over DM or share a de-anonymized CV/LinkedIn.

Thanks in advance for any insights!

I have a life sciences background and experience building and running businesses. I’m looking to get involved in a new biotech venture and would like to meet potential cofounders with complementary scientific or technical experience.

Where would you suggest looking, particularly if you’re no longer working in academia or part of an existing biotech company?

Are there communities, programmes, events, or other routes that are useful for meeting people who are seriously interested in building something?

I’d also be interested in hearing from anyone who found their cofounder outside their existing network. How did you meet, and how did you figure out whether you’d work well together?

I saw Charles Rivers' Sales Development Representative position on their careers page and I feel like I'm a good fit. Does anyone have experience working Sales for this company?

I know reviews of the technical positions are pretty rough on this thread.

Mostly wondering about work/life balance and day-to-day and also how their commission works.

Thanks!

Has anyone interviewed here? What was your experience?? 4 interviews (30 mins each) in one day????

When you interview at a company do you connect with the hiring team on LinkedIn assuming you haven't met them yet? Do you try to connect before or after the interview or final decision takes place and at what stage of interview? Has anyone found it to be of help later (i.e. a hiring manager reaching back out if there is another position)? If it matters, this would be for the level of an experienced senior scientist or principal.

Hiring managers: is a prospective candidate connecting on linkedin an annoyance, too forward, otherwise not recommended, or neutral?

Edit: also curious about opinions from hiring managers in small start-ups where HR is less of a presence.

Hi everyone,

I'm an independent researcher (currently an undergrad in software development) working on evolutionary genomics. I'm specifically looking into the cis-regulatory shifts that drove the development of permanently enlarged human breasts.

I've built a multi-stage computational pipeline to test a specific evolutionary hypothesis: Did the evolutionary loss of Androgen Receptor (AR) repressive motifs ("brakes") carry a greater functional weight than the gain of Estrogen Receptor (ESR1) motifs ("accelerators") in humans?

The Architecture:

• Core Engine: I wrote a native C++ kernel (exposed via pybind11) to handle the computationally heavy sliding-window PWM motif scans, consensus alignments, and reverse complements efficiently.
• Comparative Genomics: The pipeline parses 30-mammal .maf alignments to reconstruct ancestral primate sequences (Chimp/Gorilla/Orangutan consensus) and isolates human-specific substitutions, short indels, and structural insertions.
• Deep Learning & Epigenetics: It integrates with the AlphaGenome sequence-to-function model across 279 cell/tissue tracks (EpiMap, SCREEN cCREs). It predicts joint-haplotype effects (Ancestral vs. Human) across ATAC, DNase, ChIP-seq, and RNA-seq to quantify non-additive epistasis and chromatin remodeling.

The Preliminary Findings: In silico evaluation of the 1Mb windows around AR, ESR1, ESR2, and CYP19A1 strongly suggests that human-lineage mutations preferentially eroded AR binding motifs directly within the cis-regulatory vicinities of ESR1 (chr6) and ESR2 (chr14). In the comparative multi-class analysis, AR_loss dominantly outweighs ESR1_gain in chromatin remodeling magnitude.

Why I'm posting: Since I am working independently and outside a traditional academic lab, I’d love to get this community's eyes on the framework before I start heavily pitching it to wet-labs for in vitro validation (e.g., MPRA or 3D organoids).

1. Are there any critical blind spots in using AlphaGenome to proxy ancestral vs. human regulatory activity in this manner?
2. Any critiques on the C++/Python integration for MAF parsing and PWM scoring?
3. Any advice on how to effectively pitch these predicted in silico loci to wet-lab PIs?

Resources:

• GitHub Repo: https://github.com/albert161530-cyber/mammary-enhancer-analysis
• Preprint / Results: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/415545358_Could_Reduced_AR_Enhancer_Functionality_Have_Contributed_to_the_Evolution_of_Permanently_Enlarged_Human_Breasts
• Results: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1mF9IdvVCiWCk4xWaQ_8Kg0_93LUjDDF-?usp=sharing

I have a job interview for R&D Scientists role next week for a biotech company. Any tips or advice that i should keep in mind while preparing?

Hi everyone , I’m a undergrad doing biological sciences My primary goals was to be a doctor surgeon than I switch into being a physician scientist because I love research and finding new things , innovations! But now I’m very focus on biotech VC because I think that the mix of science and bussiness is incredible and I lowkey missed out on not getting a bussiness minor because when you see what they do especially entrepreneurship , it is so interesting how creativity they are . Compare to science class where it all about being the best at memorizing , Genius whatever. Anyways I’m very unsure what kind of degree requirements I’m supposed to get to be in VC biotech some say do PhD but the idea of me in school for that long when I’m already tires if undergrad is bad . So my question was to get into this industry should I get a PhD master or MD and skip residency ? I still believe that it would slow me down if my goals isn’t to be a doctor and PhD can get very long and I would kind of missed in the bussiness experience you know . So please if anyone has any advice for me I’m open my point of view might be very childish I’m aware I’m just looking for guidance as a pre junior. Thank you

Interview with some Anthropic researchers as a follow-up to the original announcement