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Appistry Announces New Fellowship in Life Science Informatics and Entrepreneurship
[December 18, 2014]

Appistry Announces New Fellowship in Life Science Informatics and Entrepreneurship


Appistry, Inc., a leading provider of tools, software, and services that bring the power of genomics to next-generation medicine, today announced that it is accepting applications for the Appistry Fellowship in Life Science Informatics and Entrepreneurship. The two-year fellowship will provide recent college graduates with hands-on, real-world experience developing solutions for analyzing and managing the "omics" data that has become essential to biological research and precision medicine.

The program was conceived and will be directed by Cornelius Boerkoel, M.D., Ph.D., Appistry's chief medical officer. Boerkoel has noted that a fundamental "experience gap" prevents many graduates from determining what to do after earning a bachelor's degree. Moreover, innovation in the emerging genomics industry requires integrated expertise from disciplines such as computer science, biology, and business-expertise that can be impossible to acquire in a typical undergraduate program.

"In the Appistry fellowship, students will not only gain specific subject-matter expertise, but broader experience working in a fast-paced business setting," Boerkoel said. "It's this latter experience that will help them regardless of thir choice of future career and will provide their employers with creative workers capable of envisioning out-of-the-box solutions that will move our industry forward."



While the fellowship requires students to participate substantively in the development of Appistry's solutions for managing and analyzing next-generation sequencing (NGS) data, students from any degree field or background are encouraged to apply. Fellows will participate directly in the design and development of novel programmatic solutions and will be expected to present their work in oral or scientific posters and in peer-reviewed publications. The fellowship provides a $25,000 stipend for the first year and $28,000 in the second year, along with health insurance benefits from Appistry. Fellows will be expected to relocate to St. Louis, MO.

"I'm really glad I didn't just go straight to graduate school," said Elise Flynn, a technical consultant at Appistry who participated in a similar fellowship opportunity prior to joining Appistry. "This fellowship gives students direct experience that's hard to obtain while taking classes. More importantly, it helped me discover that I excel at and enjoy bioinformatics, a field I had never encountered as an undergraduate, and it has become the focus on my career."


Comprising around 50 bioinformaticians, software engineers, scientific experts, and business leaders, Appistry provides an open, dynamic environment for innovation. Appistry's offices are located in downtown St. Louis, minutes from Busch Stadium and other sporting venues, the historic Soulard Market District, and the city's metro system that provides affordable access to the St Louis Zoo and museums in Forest Park, symphonic and cultural performances at the Fabulous Fox Theater, and St Louis Medical Center.

Applicants can apply for the fellowship by visiting the Appistry website at www.appistry.com/fellowship.

About Appistry

Appistry, Inc., is bringing the power of genomics to next-generation medicine by creating world-class bioinformatics tools, cloud services, and software that streamline the analysis of next-generation sequencing data and make genomic data easier to researchers and clinicians to act on. Learn more by connecting with Appistry on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.


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