Bionano welcomed thirteen interns to this summer’s internship program. Interns joined a variety of teams across the company, including bioinformatics, operations, scientific affairs and marketing. During the program, they worked under supervision on a variety of interesting and challenging projects.

The internship wasn’t all business, however. Our interns got an in-depth look into the field of genomics, improved soft skills needed at work, and made friends. They went on site tours, learned from leadership team members, and even attended a Padres game. And at the end of the summer, they showed off what they had learned to an audience of Bionano team members.

We got the chance to chat with our interns to find out what they thought about their time here, what got them interested in Bionano, and what they enjoyed the most.

Meet our Interns!

Our interns came from top-tier schools across the country. Here’s a deeper look at a few of these talented students.

Michelle Azuma studies biochemistry, molecular biology and Japanese at UC Davis. She previously held internships at the UC Davis Veterinary Hospital focused on community medicine and small animal emergency medicine.

Ayeeshi Poosarla is majoring in biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins University. During high school, she was a biochemistry research intern at UC Berkeley and a data analysis research intern at UC San Diego.

Kyle Yun just graduated from UC San Diego with a degree in public health with an emphasis in health policy and management. Most recently, Kyle was an integrated health and automation marketing intern at Hologic.

Discovering Bionano: What Got Them Interested?

Abeni Thomas saw the internship post on LinkedIn, where the word “genomics” caught her eye. She wanted to work at a company at the forefront of genetic research.

Ashmeen Mahal first became aware of Bionano through friends and family working in the biotech field. She was hoping to gain experience working in a wet lab.

Jenna Carioscia thought Bionano was a good fit because she was seeking a company where she could incorporate her passion for both business and biology.

The Internship Adventure: Projects and Learning

Let’s hear about some of the cool projects our interns tackled this summer!

James Mullin lent a hand to the marketing team, analyzing website analytics, working on website optimization and Google AdWords, and presenting at a quarterly marketing review.

Abeni Thomas joined the bioinformatics team, where she dug into structural variant data from cancer samples to identify important patterns.

Simon Way worked in the operations department, where he focused on prototyping and designing fixtures and tools and creating flowcharts to help optimize workflows.

Mateo Sulejmani worked with the assays and development team. He developed a study to create parameters for mixing liquids with a stir bar of different fill volumes, viscosities, and RPM’s.  

The Best Part: What They Loved About Their Internship

Michelle Azuma enjoyed learning new lab skills and having the opportunity to do independent work. She gained confidence in her ability to plan and organize experiments, analyze results and think of the next steps to take.

Ayeeshi Poosarla was grateful for the relationships she built with her team through weekly team meetings and lunches. She appreciated the collaborative environment and the sense of inclusion she felt from her colleagues.

Ashmeen Mahal appreciated the opportunities to get to know her fellow interns, through social events and team bonding. She was excited to see her first Padres baseball game with her cohort!

We are so proud of the work our interns accomplished this summer. If you are interested in joining our team, please click here for information on available positions.