Rafael Miranda

Internship location: Genentech
Currently employed at: Graduate Student – PhD
Anticipated PhD date: Summer 2017

What are your general research interests?

I am interested in understanding the biochemical mechanisms that drive biological processes.

How did you identify your internship?

I looked for companies online that seemed to have well-supported internship programs.

What was your internship like? What were you responsible for? What was a typical day like?

My internship was very rewarding. I was responsible for my own project focused on mechanistic characterization of a drug target. A typical day at Genentech was pretty similar to graduate school: lab work, group meetings, and internal/external seminars. The internship program also had several career development activities for interns.

Do you have any advice to prospective interns?

There are many internships available for PhD level students of all skill-sets. Summer internship positions start to appear online in late December/January. It’s a great opportunity apply your skills to a problem outside your thesis project, expand your network beyond the university, and continue LEARNING.