Ethan Lang Nicholas is a Bachelor of Science student, majoring in computational biology, at The University of Melbourne. He recently undertook a three-month internship with Illumina's ANZ marketing team.

Ethan's excitement for the potential of genomic data and sequencing technologies to reshape industries, products and services, attracted him to an internship with Illumina.

"My task was to research the cloud computing landscape in the healthcare data industry, which provided me with an understanding of the global distribution of cloud computing infrastructure."

"I gained valuable insight into various components of the genomics industry, including research, business, public health, government, technology, marketing, finance and investment, and an understanding of potential future trends and demands in the industry."

Ethan said that the internship provided him with a better understanding of both the research and industry career pathways in genomics.

"I am now aware of many challenges in the health data space, such as privacy issues, ownership of data, location for storage. Since this internship, I'm interested in looking more at software platform development for genomics data, and the use of blockchain technology for genomic and health-related data with its possibilities in security and privacy, distributed structure, and encryption."

Ethan believes that the internship program will have positive impacts for students looking to get into academia or industry.

"Illumina's internship program is a really excellent channel for students to gain industry insights, build networks, and think about actual industry problems."