2024 Summer Internship, Protein Science

Arvinas is a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to improving the lives of patients suffering from debilitating and life-threatening diseases through the discovery, development, and commercialization of therapies that degrade disease-causing proteins. Arvinas uses its proprietary PROTAC Discovery Engine platform to engineer proteolysis targeting chimeras, or PROTAC targeted protein degraders, that are designed to harness the body’s own natural protein disposal system to selectively and efficiently degrade and remove disease-causing proteins. In addition to its robust preclinical pipeline of PROTAC protein degraders against validated and “undruggable” targets, the company has three investigational clinical-stage programs: ARV-766 and bavdegalutamide for the treatment of men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer; and vepdegestrant (ARV-471) for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic ER+/HER2- breast cancer. Arvinas, as part of its overall business strategy, selectively assesses opportunities for potential collaboration, license, marketing and royalty arrangements, and similar transactions, to advance and accelerate the development and enhance the commercial potential of its product candidates.

#TeamArvinas is made up of approximately 450 passionate and curious employees, whose diverse thoughts and perspectives are highly valued. Arvinas employees embrace the freedom to pursue innovation, think creatively, and give back. They are driven by the company’s values and mission – to improve the lives of patients with serious diseases by pioneering therapies created with our revolutionary PROTAC® protein degradation platform. We’re really excited about the work we’re doing inside and outside of Arvinas, and think you will be, too. But don’t just take our word for it – learn more about life at Arvinas and what employees have to say.

For more information, please visit www.arvinas.com. 

Position Summary 

This position is for a summer intern in our Protein Science and Structural Biology group within Platform Biology that supports therapeutic areas across the organization. 

Specifically for this position, we are looking for a summer intern to complete follow-up work on protein-protein interaction studies involving a target in oncology. The student will be responsible for isolating previously identified proteins using recombinant expression in E. coli and standard protein purification techniques. The student will then proceed to characterize protein-protein interactions by performing binding assays, such as analytical size exclusion chromatography and thermal shift assays; followed potentially by further characterization via X-ray crystallography studies.

This position will report to our Senior Research Scientist, and will be located at our headquarters in New Haven, CT.

Principal Responsibilities

Key responsibilities of this role include, but are not limited to:

• The candiate will learn to generate large quantities of crystallography, cryoEM, and/or assay-grade protein.
  • Training in DNA construct design such as affinity and solubility tags.
  • Training in protein expression in coli.
  • Training in protein purification techniques such as affinity chromatography, ion exchange chromatography, and size exclusion chromatography (SEC).
  • Training in quality control of protein purity using SDS-PAGE, analytical SEC, and thermal stability analysis.
• Learn to set up and observe crystallography trays using automated robotic systems.
  • Training on the Dragonfly and Mosquito instruments for high-throughput protein crystallography.
  • Training on the RockImager 1000 to visualize crystallization trays.
• Learn to to analyze and communicate experimental data to team members, write up experimental procedures for colleagues, and provide thorough documentation using an electronic lab notebook (ELN).
• Build productive relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Apply excellent organizational and prioritization skills.

 Qualifications

• Attention to detail
• Persistent and goal-oriented
• Capable of independent work and communicate progress or problems
• Open to constructive feedback, and freely asks questions
• Basic understanding of cell biology
• Basic understanding of biochemistry
• Prior experience with cell culture desired, but not a pre-requisite
• Excellent recording skills as well as oral and written communication skills is required
• Manages time and balances work according to goals and deadlines.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, etc. is required

Education

• Preference to rising junior / senior in an undergraduate program or master’s student

#LI-Remote

Arvinas is proud to offer a competitive package of base and incentive compensation as well as a comprehensive benefits program designed to support the health, wellness and financial security of our employees and their families. Benefits include group medical, vision and dental coverage, group and supplemental life insurance, and much more. To learn more about Arvinas, please visit www.arvinas.com

Arvinas is an Equal Opportunity Employer