Academic Internship – AI Applied to Biomedical Data at the Barcelonaβeta Brain Research Center

Context

The Barcelonaβeta Brain Research Center (BBRC) is a research center dedicated to the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and to the study of cognitive functions affected by healthy and pathological aging. It was founded in 2012 by the Pasqual Maragall Foundation, with the support of Pompeu Fabra University.

The mission of BBRC is to provide innovative solutions to decipher and prevent the biological changes and cognitive dysfunction associated with neurodegenerative diseases. Due to the aging of the global population, these diseases represent a major global challenge. For example, dementia could reach epidemic levels by 2050, with more than 150 million people affected worldwide if effective strategies to prevent its onset and progression are not developed.

BBRC has been awarded the HR Excellence in Research (HRS4R) recognition by the European Commission, demonstrating its commitment to the principles outlined in the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers. The center offers a stimulating and supportive working environment aligned with the Charter and Code, which define the rights and responsibilities of researchers and their employers and contribute to building a transparent, attractive, and internationally open research ecosystem.

The Pasqual Maragall Foundation, Pompeu Fabra University, and the “la Caixa” Foundation are permanent members of the BBRC governing board. The center is affiliated with and located on the Ciutadella Campus of Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, in a building inaugurated in 2016.

BBRC headquarters provide excellent technical facilities, including a 3T MRI scanner dedicated to research, spaces for conducting Clinical Trials, and EEG facilities. State-of-the-art scientific infrastructure, effective management, and continuous high-level evaluation of its professionals form the core processes that enable the center to achieve first-class research outcomes.

BBRC is also part of the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB), a large research complex that hosts seven additional biomedical research institutions, including the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG), the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM), the Department of Experimental and Health Sciences of Pompeu Fabra University (CEXS-UPF), the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory – Barcelona (EMBL), among others. The PRBB provides a multidisciplinary, collaborative, and internationally stimulating environment, in close connection with a clinical setting that supports translational research.

For more information:
www.barcelonabeta.org , www.fpmaragall.org

About the role

The Barcelonaβeta Brain Research Center Foundation is seeking a university student to join the BioIA Data Platform team.

The objective of this internship is to participate in the design and development of a prototype agentic artificial intelligence pipeline (based on large language models and analytical tools) capable of partially automating the scientific discovery process in biomedical data.

The project is inspired by the concept of the “AI Scientist”, where a system of AI agents can assist the scientific research process through hypothesis generation, data exploration, proposal and execution of analyses, and automated report generation, always under human supervision and ensuring traceability and reproducibility.

The use case will focus on data from the BBRC Beta-AARC cohort (~200 participants aged 55–80), aimed at characterizing subjective cognitive decline and associated biomarkers.

Key Responsibilities

The student may participate in the following activities:

• Contribute to the design of an agentic AI pipeline to support scientific analysis of biomedical data.
• Develop components of an analysis agent capable of generating analytical plans (e.g., cohort stratification, predictive models).
• Implement and run analyses in reproducible environments (notebooks or pipelines) with logging and versioning systems.
• Support the development of model and analysis validation and evaluation modules.
• Explore and analyze clinical, cognitive, and biomarker data from the Beta-AARC cohort.
• Automatically generate technical reports including figures, tables, and interpretative narrative while ensuring full traceability of results.
• Collaborate with data scientists and biomedical researchers to define analysis strategies.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or Master’s student in Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Bioinformatics, Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics, or related fields.
• Programming knowledge in Python.
• Familiarity with data analysis tools.
• Basic knowledge of applied statistics or predictive modeling.
• Good written and spoken English.
• Interest in the application of artificial intelligence to biomedical research.

Additional desirable qualifications:

• Experience with LLMs, RAG systems, AI agents, or scientific reproducibility tools (Git, notebooks, pipelines).
• Experience with Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere, or other design and image editing software.
• Personal Competencies
• Analytical skills and critical thinking.
• Interest in scientific research and technological innovation.
• Ability to work in interdisciplinary teams.
• Proactivity and strong learning capacity.
• Methodological rigor and commitment to high-quality analyses.

We offer

• Possibility to establish a university internship agreement.
• Minimum duration: 2 months.
• Location: Pompeu Fabra University Campus (c/ Wellington, 30, Barcelona). Metro L4 / Tram T4.
• Remote work available according to the Foundation’s policy.
• Schedule to be agreed depending on the student’s availability.
• Financial support/stipend will be provided.

How to Apply

• Please send:
• CV (max. 2 pages)

Send your application to: talent@barcelonabeta.org Subject line: Academic Internship – AI Applied to Biomedical Data at the Barcelonaβeta Brain Research Center