2026 Internship Opportunities

This project investigates how combinations of beneficial and harmful bacteria influence each other’s ability to colonize plant roots. The student will work with simplified synthetic microbial communities to study how community composition affects which strains successfully establish on the plant. Using sterile plant growth systems and DNA-based tracking tools, the student will measure changes in strain abundance during colonization experiments. The results will help reveal general principles of microbial community assembly and identify features that enable beneficial microbes to persist on plant hosts.

The student will culture bacterial strains and mix them into small synthetic microbial communities for application to plants under controlled laboratory conditions. They will assist with plant inoculations, DNA extraction, and sequencing sample preparation to track bacterial strains during colonization experiments as well as plant phenotyping using photographs and image analysis. Working closely with a postdoctoral mentor, the student will perform plant tissue culture using good sterile techniques, record observations, and help interpret results related to microbial community assembly and invasion dynamics.

The student will learn experimental approaches for studying plant-microbe interactions, including microbial culturing, plant inoculation, and sequencing-based community analysis. They will gain hands-on experience working with synthetic microbial communities and develop an understanding of how beneficial bacteria establish and persist in plant root microbiomes.

Major in Science or Engineering discipline.

Basic laboratory skills are preferred, but not required.

Students should have a computer for data analysis and presentation.

• Students will meet with internship mentors in the spring, prior to the internship start date. Reading materials may also be provided.
• Students are responsible for securing accommodations for the duration of their internship. On-campus summer housing is typically available the first week of June until the first week of August (details to become available in Spring 2026). If the internship falls outside of on-campus housing availability, students will need to secure alternate housing.