I2P International Internship Program
I2P is a structured internship program for pre-doctoral students
Structured Internship Program at the Gregor Mendel Institute
The International Internship Program (I2P) of the GMI is for students interested in doing a PhD. I2P is a structured internship program that provides promising young scientists the opportunity to carry out cutting-edge research at one of Europe’s leading life science research centers. Interns will be fully integrated into a research group and will be an important part of the GMI community.
These competitive internships are targeted at students who have finished or are in their final year of a bachelor’s program and students enrolled in a Master's program in search of a hosting institute for their thesis. The internships offer:
- Full integration into a research group with access to GMI's core research facilities
- Training on how to perform scientific research at the highest level
- Guidance on career development and PhD opportunities
- A competitive salary
- Travel reimbursement for international students
Research at the GMI covers a broad range of topics including molecular, cellular, and developmental biology as well as biochemistry, evolution, and quantitative and population genetics.
In addition to being part of a research group at the GMI, the interns will participate in journal clubs, progress meetings, social activities, and a diversity of other mentoring events.
Requirements and Application documents:
- An academic CV that outlines academic training and details of previous internships (2 pages max.)
- A cover letter that (i) describes previous research experience, (ii) identifies the GMI research group that you would like to join, and (iii) explains the choice of the research group (1 pages max.)
- Contact details of two referees, one of which should be from a mentor who supervised a previous research project.
Applications:
The duration of the internships will be decided by individual groups but is expected to be between three and six months. There will be two application deadlines each year. For summer internships, the application deadline is April1st and the students are expected to start in the following June or July. For the winter internships, the application deadline is December 1st and students are expected to start in the following February. Applications should be sent as a single PDF file (Surname_Name.pdf) to internships(at)gmi.oeaw.ac.at.
I2P Program News
I2P Program News
GMI's International Internship Program Welcomes Early Career Researchers
The Gregor Mendel Institute (GMI) attracts global talent who make fundamental discoveries about plant biology. Senior researchers at GMI developed the International Internship Program (I2P) for early career scientists before they enter graduate school. In a series of interviews, our interns described their work at GMI. The experience opened new ways of thinking about scientific research, specifically the importance of human connection and purpose-driven work.
More information about I2P can be found here.
Pamela Vetrano, Ramundo Lab
During these five months of internship, I found myself in a continuously evolving environment, full of motivated people and exciting challenges. I had the opportunity to try, fail, and not feel guilty for that. I had the chance to learn a lot from the others and to teach something as well: indeed, the open-minded attitude is another valuable characteristic at the GMI.
From the first day that I stepped into the GMI I felt the strong sense of community and the importance in preserving it. Moreover, I also appreciated the shared excitement for science and the nonstop search for innovation.
Arthur Caron, Berger Lab
This internship was a first taste of real work life in a lab, on wet bench, as I was only in an office for a Bioinformatics internship before. I was able to quickly learn the proper ways of behaving, experiment, and already gain some independency.
Moreover, participating in a real project, not only by simply doing what I am told, but also by participating in discussions to develop it, allowed me to finally make use of the knowledge that I accumulated over the years and feel closer to the goal of being a researcher. I analyzed results with my tutor and thought by myself about my projects.
Although I realised that not all this knowledge was useful, it’s way too theorical and there were things that I could only learn by doing this internship and develop new ways of thinking, which is why I feel that it is a real opportunity, that helped me for my scientific development.
The GMI is a really great place to focus on working about what we like. Everyone is passionate about their work which is a good source of motivation, and the vibe between colleagues is great, even more between the interns / student helpers, which makes it, for me, a place I’m happy to come to work.
Bohdana Hurieva, Nordborg Lab
This internship helped me a lot to understand how it is to be in science and to do a real research project. I learned how to formulate a hypothesis, plan an experiment, analyse data, and present your results to other scientists. This internship in GMI also helped me to understand how important the human connection in science is and that if you are confused, you should always talk to other people.
The coolest thing in GMI is how opened and ready to help all the people are. Even if you feel stressed out, there are always lots of people who you can talk with and get some support from them.
Victoria Vyboishchikov, Dagdas Lab
At the GMI I have the opportunity to perform real science. Interns get to do experiments that are important and they are not left with the boring and side experiments that no one else wants to do. I am taking care of my own project and have possibilities to show my results to other scientists at conferences even as an early career scientist. Thanks to this, I developed a lot of independence and responsibility in my daily lab work and setting up experiments.
When I moved to Vienna I didn't know anyone, but from the first moment I stepped into the GMI I was surrounded by very welcoming people that instantaneously became my friends. There is a strong bonding with everybody, including interns, PhD students and postdocs. Thanks to this, there is no hierarchy which makes work very enjoyable and gives the possibility to discuss science without being afraid of saying stupidities.
Publications by GMI Interns
Publications by GMI Interns
Interns at the GMI are assigned their own projects and contribute to published research. Following is a growing list of papers that have been co-authored by GMI interns, whose names are in bold.
2023
Phytochromes mediate germination inhibition under red, far-red, and white light in Aethionema arabicum.
Zsuzsanna Mérai#, Fei Xu, Andreas Musilek, Florian Ackerl, Sarhan Khalil, Luz Mayela Soto-Jiménez, Katarina Lalatović, Cornelia Klose, Danuše Tarkowská, Veronika Turečková, Miroslav Strnad, Ortrun Mittelsten Scheid.
Plant Physiology, 2023;, kiad138, doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiad138
A versatile CRISPR-based system for lineage tracing in living plants
Mattia Donà#, Gabriele Bradamante, Zorana Bogojevic, Ruben Gutzat, Susanna Streubel, Magdalena Mosiolek, Liam Dolan, Ortrun Mittelsten Scheid#.
bioRxiv 2023.02.09.527713; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.02.09.527713
2022
Plant autophagosomes mature into amphisomes prior to their delivery to the central vacuole
Jierui Zhao*, Mai Thu Bui*, Juncai Ma*, Fabian Künzl, Lorenzo Picchianti, Juan Carlos De La Concepcion, Yixuan Chen, Sofia Petsangouraki, Azadeh Mohseni, Marta García-Leon, Marta Salas Gomez, Caterina Giannini, Dubois Gwennogan, Roksolana Kobylinska, Marion Clavel, Swen Schellmann, Yvon Jaillais, Jiri Friml, Byung-Ho Kang#, Yasin Dagdas#.
J Cell Biol (2022) 221 (12): e202203139; doi: https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.202203139
A hormone-activated mobile RNAi pathway defends plant stem cells from virus infection
Marco Incarbone#, Gabriele Bradamante, Florian Pruckner, Tobias Wegscheider, Wilfried Rozhon, Vu Nguyen, Ruben Gutzat, Thomas Lendl, Stuart MacFarlane, Michael Nodine, Ortrun Mittelsten Scheid.
bioRxiv 2022.12.18.520928; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.12.18.520928
2020
Arabidopsis shoot stem cells display dynamic transcription and DNA methylation patterns.
Gutzat R#, Rembart K, Nussbaumer T, Hofmann F, Pisupati R, Bradamante G, Daubel N, Gaidora A, Lettner N, Donà M, Nordborg M, Nodine M, Mittelsten Scheid O#.
EMBO J. 2020 Oct 15;39(20):e103667; doi: https://doi.org/10.15252/embj.2019103667
2014
How a retrotransposon exploits the plant's heat stress response for its activation.
Vladimir V. Cavrak, Nicole Lettner, Suraj Jamge, Agata Kosarewicz, Laura Maria Bayer, Ortrun Mittelsten Scheid#.
PLoS Genet. 2014 Jan 30;10(1):e1004115; doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1004115
* Authors contributed equally to this paper.
# Corresponding author.