Opportunities

The Trinh lab welcomes enquiries from hard-working and self-driven students, scientists, and volunteers with backgrounds/interests in life science, computer science, statistics, and organic chemistry to join our research efforts. We mentor selected trainees based on their career goals, either to participate in or drive their own research projects. We actively seek collaborative opportunities not only to execute our research themes but also to provide our expertise in supporting colleagues with their research efforts. Additionally, we welcome partners in translating basic research findings toward therapeutic applications.

Research technicians: 

• No science background or experience:  As long as the candidate loves science and has a strong work ethic, we are willing to teach and guide, starting with routine laboratory duties and simple laboratory methods. Dr. Trinh is inspired by a true story from one of his colleague who had no background in science but worked her way up to become a lab manager with diverse skills in research and laboratory management. 

• With science background and experience: Experience with lab management, molecular biology, cell biology, and animal experiments are the pluses. 

Opportunities: The lab invites motivated graduating or recently graduated undergraduates to enquire for short-term research positions designed to help them gain experience as they prepare for applications to graduate or medical schools.

Postdoctoral fellows: Interested individuals will join an interdisciplinary research group in which research questions and novel ideas are valued and examined from experimental and computational angles. The candidate will have opportunities to drive his/her own research project(s), develop fellowship applications, write manuscripts, mentor junior trainees, and learn skills of interest along the way. To be considered for this position, applicants must have a Ph.D. or M.D./Ph.D degree in a related science field. Candidates with strong background in molecular biology, cellular biology, and/or mouse models are highly desired. Computational and statistical skills are the pluses but not required. Candidates are also expected to have at least a first-author paper published or in preparation, good organizational, writing, and communication skills. Candidates with long-term interests in either academia or biotech industry are both welcome to enquire. 

Opportunities: A Postdoctoral Research Associate position is available for applicants. 

UVA graduate students: Graduate students are welcome to contact us if they find one or more of our research themes are of interest to develop theses. We also welcome students with new research ideas related to our research program. Internal students at UVA will be considered to join our lab primarily through Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program (PhD, BIMS) or Medical Scientist Training Program (MD/PhD, MSTP). After joining these programs, students can enquire us for a lab rotation. More details, click here. External students can join the lab via lab-lab collaborations or internships. 

Opportunities: Our lab is open for inquiries about graduate student rotations and internships.

UVA undergraduate students: Selected students can be mentored by Dr. Trinh and his team for academic credits through classes such as UVA BIOL4910 Independent Research and UVA CHEM 3951 Undergraduate Research or as volunteers in research. We encourage students to apply for Scholarships and Fellowships through the Center for Undergraduate Excellence, particularly summer research grants. 

Opportunities: We currently have a high number of undergraduate students, but we do not close the door to dedicated and self-driven individuals.

Visiting scientists: Interested scientists (with, MS,  PhD and/or MD)  who have their own scholarships or would like to apply for scholarships with our support are welcome to enquire. We will work with the selected candidate to come up with a research project that fits his/her background, interest, and time (at least a 3 month stay is preferred). A related example is a Harvard College student who successfully applied for his own scholarship with Dr. Trinh's support.

Opportunities: 

UVA Comprehensive Cancer CenterSTRIVE 2025: Short-Term Research Initiative for Visiting Educators, read more

The American Society of Hematology Visitor Training Program, read more

Student Internships: Internship opportunities are for students (high school senior, undergraduate, and graduate students) who are interested in learning laboratory and bioinformatics skills and/or would like to participate in our research projects. A successful story was an intern student supported by the Undergraduate Internship Program of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and paired with Dr. Trinh's proposed project. Her 3-month training resulted in a first-author poster presentation and a co-author research paper.

Opportunities: 

Summer Research Internship Program (SRIP): We participate in SRIP, a ten-week research internship for undergraduates who are interested in biomedical research. SRIP provides financial support, housing, and travel to qualified participants". This program is for U.S. citizens or permanent residents, to apply, click here. 

Medical Student Summer Research Program (MSSRP): Trinh lab participates in MSSRP. We provide stipend for rising second-year UVA medical students. See MSSRP website for more detail and matching. 

The School of Medicine’s Summer Opportunities in Academic Research (SOAR): An eight-week summer program for local high school students in Cville, to learn more, click here, and here. We train SOAR2023 and SOAR2025 scholars

International students are generally expected to come with fellowships (from their governments, attending schools, or foundations) or via lab-lab collaboration. Exceptional students, whose skills and experience align with at least one of our current priorities (molecular biology, computation, statistics, animal models) could be financially supported by the lab.  

Volunteers: The lab is open for volunteers who want to observe or assist in our research while learning skills they need. Interested individuals, please read UVA School of Medicine Volunteers in Research policy before enquiring us. Individuals with no skills can involve in data entry, creating inventory, and routine lab work. Individuals with skills can involves in related research projects.

Collaborators: Whether the scientists are interested in utilizing our research expertise or would like to join force to further common research interests with us. There are several platforms to accomplish this including student/staff exchange (visiting scientist, internship), project collaboration, cooperative grant applications.

Partnership: The lab is enthusiastic about translating basic research findings toward therapeutic applications. Individuals who are interested in translational research and commercialization are welcome to join us developing translational projects toward spin-outs and startups.  

Note: Priority for filling the above-mentioned positions in the Trinh lab might change from time to time. Interested individuals are welcome to contact us, click here. For trainee candidates, please submit a CV/resume with references, and a brief statement of your qualifications and interests.