Plant Tissue Culture Lab Operations Intern

Driscoll’s • Watsonville, CA

22h • $23 • Onsite

About The Position

The Nursery is a critical component of the Driscoll’s business model, enabling berry production and revenue growth through the propagation of plants for our growers. The Nursery motto is to deliver plants In-Volume, On-Time, On-Grade and Within Cost. The Plant Tissue Culture Lab Operations Intern will support the Tissue Culture (TC) Laboratory by contributing to a focused efficiency-improvement project across both robotic and manual production workflows. The intern will assist in collecting operational data, mapping process steps, and analyzing key production metrics to help identify workflow delays, bottlenecks, and opportunities to improve efficiency within the lab. The primary objective of this internship is to support data-driven insights that help enhance production throughput, improve robot utilization, and streamline daily laboratory operations. This role offers hands-on exposure to plant tissue culture production, laboratory operations, and automation technologies used in commercial plant propagation. Working closely with lab technicians, supervisors, and the automation team, the intern will gain practical experience in operational analytics, process improvement, and applied biotechnology within a fast-paced laboratory production environment.

Requirements

• Currently pursuing or recently completed a Bachelor’s degree in one of the following areas: Biology, Plant Science, Biotechnology, Agribusiness, Agriculture, Horticulture, Business Administration, Operations Management, Mathematics, Statistics, Data Analytics
• Data analysis and process improvement
• Laboratory operations or biological production environments
• Operational workflow analysis
• Production metrics and reporting
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel
• Ability to interpret operational data and understand production workflows.
• Comfortable working in a laboratory production environment (training provided).
• Interest in lab operations, production efficiency, workflow optimization, or automation.

Nice To Haves

• Familiarity with Power BI or other visualization tools is a plus.
• Previous internship, research, or project experience involving data analysis, laboratory work, or operational processes preferred.
• Exposure to laboratory environments, agricultural production systems, or operational analytics is a plus.
• Interest in plant tissue culture, plant propagation, or agricultural biotechnology
• Curiosity about automation and robotics used in biological production systems
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Ability to work collaboratively in a team-oriented laboratory environment
• Interest in process improvement, operational efficiency, or production analytics

Responsibilities

• Collect, organize, and analyze operational data across tissue culture workflows (manual and robotic).
• Track key production metrics such as contamination rates, cycle times, throughput, and success rates.
• Support workflow mapping to document how materials move through the TC Lab, identifying bottlenecks and improvement opportunities.
• Assist with digitizing paper logs and converting them into structured datasets.
• Create dashboards, reports, or visual summaries that help the team monitor daily operations.
• Participate in evaluating material readiness for upcoming production cycles, including availability of clones, explants, and media.
• Collaborate with lab technicians, media prep, inventory, and robotics teams to ensure process alignment.
• Identify potential operational risks, delays, or inefficiencies and communicate observations proactively.
• Contribute to continuous improvement projects aimed at enhancing throughput, reducing waste, and streamlining overall lab operations.

What This Job Offers

• Career Level: Intern