8-Week Summer Internship for Rising Seniors

The Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) 8-Week Summer Internship for Rising Seniors is a competitive, in-person research internship in Seattle for current high school juniors. Interns are placed in the Baliga Lab or other ISB labs, and each project is tied to an active ISB research effort led by a mentor. Recent topics have included computational biology, cancer, microbiology, the microbiome, infectious disease, engineering laboratory systems and aging. Beyond lab work, interns interview ISB staff about their careers, build a website about their project, and may help create school science curriculum. The 2026 internship ran from June 29 to August 21, 2026, at about 40 hours per week, or roughly 300 hours in total. ISB hosts between 4 and 10 interns each summer. Paid positions and unpaid service-learning positions are both offered. Housing is not provided, but in-person interns receive an unlimited ORCA transit pass.

Only students in 11th grade at the time of applying are eligible; seniors and younger students cannot apply. ISB cannot sponsor visas for high school interns. To apply, students submit an online application with a transcript, resume, cover letter and a teacher recommendation letter. ISB posts the opening each January.