23andMe’s 2023 summer intern program is in full swing and we have another exceptional class of talented young people. This year, our class of interns are working mostly on Therapeutics programs. They’ve come to us from institutions across the United States.
For a little inspiration, read on to learn about our interns and what they’ll be doing this summer.
If you still have questions, email internships@23andme.com.
Gabby Rabadam
Functional Genomics Intern, Therapeutics
Gabby is passionate about using multi-omics and bioinformatic approaches to study autoimmunity, which she’s currently exploring during her Ph.D. at UCSF. She’s excited to dive in as a member of the Functional Genomics team in Therapeutics. Gabby grew up in California’s Central Valley and spent five years in Boston for school and work before coming back to California for Graduate School.
Alex Heiler
Antibody & Protein Engineering Intern, Therapeutics
Alex is interested in treating diseases using enhanced therapeutic and drug delivery platforms. He is excited to contribute to Antibody and Protein Engineering in Therapeutics, working on new antibody epitope mapping methods based on mass spectrometry. He is always ready to learn a new skill or technique around the lab. Alex grew up in Sacramento and attended Santa Clara University for his undergraduate studies. He is currently pursuing a PhD in bioengineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Max Yan
Immunology Intern, Therapeutics
Max is a doctoral student in Microbiology and Immunology at University of Illinois, Chicago. His research focuses on host-cell interaction of New World Arenavirus. He will be working with the Immunology Group in Therapeutics researching novel therapeutics this summer. Max grew up in Zhengzhou, China, and graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill for his undergraduate studies.
Shilpa Shaju
Legal Intern, Privacy & Product
Shilpa is law student at the University of California, School of Law, San Francisco. Prior to attending law school, Shilpa worked at an immigration law firm in New York and graduated as the Salutatorian of her undergraduate class. Having completed her CIPP/US Certification and recently worked on global privacy issues for UN General Assembly, she is very excited to join the Privacy and Product Team in Legal, where privacy is treated as a human right. Shilpa grew up in New York and moved to San Francisco for law school.
Corinne Sexton
Computational Target Biology Intern, Therapeutics
Corinne recently completed her Ph.D. at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where she studied the 3D structure of the human genome. A Southern California native and mother of two young boys, she’s excited to be back in the Golden State.
Ayanna Muhammad
Research Diversity & Collaborations Intern, Research
After living with a hemoglobinopathy herself, Ayanna became very interested in hemoglobin disorders such as sickle cell and thalassemia. Knowing one’s carrier status for these disorders and how that affects the medical care people receive has become a passion for her. She is extremely excited to join the Sickle Cell Carrier Status Awareness Program and help the team expand their initiative so more people are aware of their status. Ayanna is from Lansing, Michigan and moved to Atlanta, Georgia to attend Spelman College. After obtaining her Master of Science in Medical Sciences degree, she was accepted into the M.D. program at Morehouse School of Medicine where she will start her second year in the fall.
Nanjie Chen
R&D Scientist Intern, Data Science Modeling, Research
Nanjie, a Ph.D. student in Applied Mathematics, is deeply passionate about the intersection of data science, machine learning, and biology. She’ll work with the Health R&D team at 23andMe as a Data Scientist Intern. Nanjie will leverage her skills to develop predictive health models which help customers make better decisions for their health. Originally from the coastal city of Dalian in Northeastern China, Nanjie now lives in Boston.
Shaopeng Liu
Computational Biology Intern, Single Cell Methods Development, Therapeutics
Shaopeng is a computational biologist in metagenomics. He utilizes and develops sketching-based algorithms to analyze metagenomic samples; and leverage knowledge graphs to mine novel insights from multi-omic data. It brings him immense joy to be joining the Computational Biology Group and contributing to method development for multi-omic single-cell data. Shaopeng is pursuing Ph.D. at Penn State.
Ruth Elgamal
Computational Biology Intern, Statistical Models for Functional Genomics Assays, Therapeutics
Ruth is interested in leveraging genetic data to advance drug discovery, particularly in the context of metabolic disorders. For her Ph.D., she is integrating population-scale metabolomics and genomics. She is looking forward to joining the Computational Biology team in Therapeutics and building statistical models to evaluate functional genomic assays while actively learning from others on the team. Ruth is originally from Canada, spent time in Boston and is now living in California.
Rebeca Lion
Antibody & Protein Engineering Intern, Therapeutics
Rebeca is joining the Therapeutics team for the summer as an Antibody and Protein Engineering Intern. She has always been interested in genetics as a tool to drive change, and is excited to work on antibody discovery over the next few months. Born and raised in Brazil, Rebeca came to the U.S. for her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering at Northwestern University.
Glen Osiemo
Therapeutics Development Intern, Therapeutics
Glen’s passion for supporting the development of innovative healthcare solutions is evident in his pursuit of a dual Pharm D and masters in applied health economics and outcomes research. This combination of clinical pharmacy knowledge and expertise in health economics will equip him with a unique skill set to contribute to the field of therapeutic drug development. He’ll be working with the immuno-oncology group at 23andMe.
Gabby Villalpando Torres’s
Biology Intern, Therapeutics
Gabby is fascinated with understanding the mechanics of biology and has devoted herself to exploring various themes in this field, currently focusing on the study of cardiovascular function. A native of California’s Central Valley, she earned her BS in Bioengineering at UC Merced and is currently pursuing a PhD in Mechanical Engineering at UC Santa Barbara. She’ll be applying working on screening for therapeutic targets linked to cardiometabolic diseases.
