Job Description

The Vertex Internship Program offers students the opportunity to learn about the pharmaceutical industry from a hands-on perspective. You will be working closely with and learning from some of the brightest people in the industry. When you join our internship program you should not be surprised to see that our environment is one that is innovative and team oriented, where collaboration is not just a word, and "we are relentless" is in everything we do. Students can expect to be challenged by their project plan, connect with other interns,and feel valued by the Vertex community. Not only will interns learn about their day-to-day tasks through their specific work assignments, but they will interact and have exposure to our organizational leaders and their teams.

Job Summary:

We are a cohesive, fast moving, 17-person team of applied physicists and mechanical, electrical, and automation engineers who design custom instruments to accelerate Vertex's drug discovery pipeline. These instruments, which combine cutting edge technology and full automation, are tailored to specific project needs to enable capabilities that are not available commercially. We work closely with biologists and chemists to deploy these instruments and develop workflows on them.

We are seeking a master's or PhD student to explore the applications of a newly developed instrument that can sample nanoliter droplets from multiwell plates and rapidly collect mass spectrometry data on each droplet. The intern would use this instrument to collect mass spectrometry data on compounds of known concentration from a library and work with the team to train a machine learning algorithm that can predict compound concentration from structure and mass spectrum. The intern would then test these tools' ability to quantify yields from massively parallelized nanogram-scale chemical reactions in the context of drug discovery.

Key Responsibilities:

• Work with engineers, an analytical chemist, and the automated instrument to collect mass spectrometry data on thousands or tens of thousands of compounds with a known concentration from Vertex's library. The instrument is currently under development and may not have a polished interface.
• Work with a machine learning expert to train a neural network to predict compound concentration from mass spec peak amplitude and compound structure. Effectively, the network will predict the compound ionization efficiency from the structure. Verify the network's performance on test compounds that were held back from the training set.
• Test whether the neural network can generalize from pure compounds in the library to reaction mixtures, as would be present in parallelized nanoscale synthesis reactions. If necessary, test whether on-instrument dilutions of the sampled droplet can effectively eliminate interactions between reaction mixture components during the ionization process.
• Time permitting, work with a chemist to run a set of reactions and compare reaction yields estimated using this methodology to the traditional low-throughput approach of production purification (via HPLC), drying, and weighing.
• Work with the team to chart a path for deploying this technology in automated nanoscale synthesis workflows.
• Present work to stakeholders and a larger Vertex audience.

Qualifications:

• Master's or PhD candidate in analytical chemistry, chemical engineering, or a related field.
• Deep expertise in mass spectrometry and related methods.
• Capable computer programmer with experience manipulating large tabular datasets.
• Comfort working with a diverse team in pursuit of a complex problem.
• Experience with automation and high-throughput experiments in multiwell plates is a plus.
• Experience in machine learning and neural networks is a plus.
• Candidate must be enrolled in an advanced degree program if graduating before May 2025
• Candidate must be available to work full-time, 40 hours per week from June - September 2025

Program Dates: June - September 2025, Full Time

Pay Range $26.00 - $50.00 USD/hour

This job posting is for a temporary role with a third-party agency partner that provides services to Vertex. The individual selected for this role will be offered the role as an employee of that third-party agency; compensation, medical benefits, fringe benefits and other terms and conditions of employment shall be presented by the third-party agency upon offer. The range provided is a reasonable estimate for the pay range for this job at the time of posting. Some roles may also be eligible for overtime pay, in accordance with federal and state requirements. The actual pay rate will be based on a number of factors, including skills, competencies, experience, and other job-related factors permitted by law.

Pay Range:

Disclosure Statement:

Flex Designation:

Flex Eligibility Status:

In this Hybrid-Eligible role, you can choose to be designated as:
1. Hybrid: work remotely up to two days per week; or select
2. On-Site: work five days per week on-site with ad hoc flexibility.

Note: The Flex status for this position is subject to Vertex's Policy on Flex @ Vertex Program and may be changed at any time.

Company Information

Vertex is a global biotechnology company that invests in scientific innovation.

Vertex is committed to equal employment opportunity and non-discrimination for all employees and qualified applicants without regard to a person's race, color, sex, gender identity or expression, age, religion, national origin, ancestry, ethnicity, disability, veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, marital status, or any characteristic protected under applicable law. Vertex is an E-Verify Employer in the United States. Vertex will make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with known disabilities, in accordance with applicable law.

Any applicant requiring an accommodation in connection with the hiring process and/or to perform the essential functions of the position for which the applicant has applied should make a request to the recruiter or hiring manager, or contact Talent Acquisition at ApplicationAssistance@vrtx.com