Co-op, Clinical Genetics

Job Description

This application is for a 6-month student role from January - June 2025. Resume review begins in October 2024. 

The Clinical Genetics team sits within the Genomic Medicine group at Biogen.  Clinical Genetics mines genomic and phenotypic data from a variety of internal and external sources in support of Biogen’s exploratory, pre-clinical, and clinical pipeline programs.  Clinical Genetics also plays a pivotal role in designing and developing strategies for patient identification and recruitment for clinical trials, particularly for programs targeting rare, single gene disorders and rare, genetically defined subsets of common diseases. 

In an effort to fully leverage data from clinical trials and to gain meaningful insights into the conditions and compounds under study, Biogen generates genomic data from trial samples for analysis in conjuction with clinical data collected as part of the trial.  Clinical dData types collected may include fluid and imaging biomarkers, disease-specific clinical rating scale assessments, digital measures, occurrence of adverse events, response to treatment, and more.  We work with therapeutic area experts and program leads to identify critical questions that can be addressed though analysis of clinical trial data and/or other data sources.  We design and carry out analyses of genomic and phenotypic data using a variety of approaches, such as genome wide association studies (GWAS), phenome wide association studies (pheWAS), polygenic risk score analysis, rare variant association testing, linear or logistic regression at baseline and longitudinally, and more. 

The co-op will work with clincal trial data, as well as public and proprietary large-scale biobank data and will have opportunities to interact with other functions in Biogen.  This is a great opportunity to see the impact of human genetics on the drug development pipeline. 

Position Description 

Biogen Clinical Genetics seeks a highly motivated co-op student to participate in focused analyses of clinical trial data and/or other data sources to gain insight into genetic factors relevant to risk, progression, and response to treatment in Parkinson’s disease (PD), amyotropic lateral scleroisis (ALS), Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and/or other complex diseases. 

Key objectives  

• Work with Clinical Genetics colleagues and disease-area experts to design and execute analytical strategies to address critical questions in Biogen’s therapeutic areas of interest (e.g., PD, ALS, AD). 
• Apply statistical and data visualization approaches to glean insights from complex genomic and phenotypic data. 
• Gain experience in the application of analytical methods such as GWAS, pheWAS, and rare variant analysis to clinical trial data. 
• Identify and explore other internal, as well as external data sources, to replicate, inform, and/or enrich findings generated from clinical trial data analysis. 
• Gain experience communicating results to colleagues, including scientists with diverse training and backgrounds.  

The co-op student joining our team will benefit from interactions with an experienced team of clinical and statistical geneticists, as well as other co-op students and/or interns. Opportunities to collaborate with the broader Biogen R&D community will be provided. The co-op position includes the opportunity to showcase work internally at Biogen and to potentially contribute to scientific posters or publications or to deliver external presentations, if deemed appropriate. 

Qualifications

• Experience with standard data science tools and frameworks (e.g., Python, R, STATA, Power BI, etc.). 
• Understanding of statistics and statistical genetics. 
• Background in human genetics and neurodegenerative diseases. 
• In-depth knowledge of analysis of WES, WGS, and array data. 
• Effective teamwork and communication skills. 

To participate in the Biogen Internship Program, students must meet the following eligibility criteria: 

• Legal authorization to work in the U.S. 
• At least 18 years of age prior to the scheduled start date 
• Be currently enrolled in an accredited community college, college or university 

Education 

• Ph.D. (or equivalent) or M.S. in progress in statistical genetics, genetic epidemiology, genomics, human genetics, statistics, computer science, bioinformatics, or other related field.

Location

• This role can be hybrid in Cambridge, MA or remote.

Additional Information

Why Biogen?

We are a global team with a commitment to excellence, and a pioneering spirit. As a mid-sized biotechnology company, we provide the stability and resources of a well-established business while fosteri