cryo-EM project

Introduction

WEHI is currently focusing on improving its ability to handle big data from the multi-million dollar Cryogenic Electron Microscopy (cryo-EM) instrument. The candidate will develop an understanding of data flow from the cryo-EM facility and determine how data and metadata should be stored to support Findable Accessible Interoperable and Resuable data practices. The key output of the project is a framework for evaluating the suitability of third-party or in-house tools to support complex cryo-EMprocessing requirements.

Duties while on placement

The Research Data Engineer Intern role will:

• review cryo-EM data transfer and storage and look to improve the scripts and tools available to the cyro-EM community,
• setup and test these scripts and tools to benchmark their speed, maintainability and extensibility,
• provide recommendations and suggestions for potential future projects.

There is also flexibility with this project to allow the student to inject their own ideas and introduce new features and functionality.

Skills and Pre-requisites

Skills and Pre-requisites include:

• Interest in research and Big Data processing
• Basic knowledge of the Linux command-line and ability to learn on-the-fly
• Willingness and ability to learn and understand high-level concepts
• Ability to work independently and to report to a group and discuss theories and results
• Good analytical skills
• Previous experience with git would be useful but not necessary

Benefits for students

Benefits for students whilst undertaking the internship include:

• Working in a High Performance Computing environment or adjacent environment.
• Practical experience with potential exposure to Bash, Python, C++.
• Gain understanding of how real-world software is assessed, developed and how priorities and requirements are established within a research environment.
• Gain understanding of the importance of maintainable, scalable and extensible code.