Biotechnology is defined as the manipulation of organisms to do practical things and provide useful products. A career in biotechnology is possible for those with a Bachelor's, Master's or PhD. While most biotechnologists deal with living organisms, there are a few areas of biotechnology that do not, such as the field of studying radioactive tracers.
Earnings as a biotechnologist can run from $30,000 all the way up to 6-figures for the more prestigious positions which will likely require a Ph.D. and many years of experience. Although this is quite a range, the mid-salary is $50,000-60,000 for a corporate position. Let's delve into the exciting rewards this career choice has to offer.
Challenging Work
Some biotechnologists study medical processes. Job functions in this area include the designing of organisms in order to result in antibiotics and the engineering of genetic cures via genomic manipulation. Other biotechnologists deal with industrial processes. Job functions in this area would cover the designing of an organism that results in useful chemicals. Still other biotechnologists deal with agricultural processes, i.e. the designing of transgenic plants, and enabling them to grow under certain environmental conditions.
Other work in biotechnology includes bioinformatics or computational biology. The focus in these fields is on solving biological problems using computational techniques. This work includes many different areas: functional and structural genomics, proteomics, and components in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sector.
Career Tidbits
If you are considering biotechnology as a career, please review the following list of general career tidbits:
- Biotechnologists generally work 40 hours per week, but may be asked to work more based on the particular experiments currently running. Their daily tasks most often involve working in a laboratory.
- Biotechnology breakthroughs have occurred in new medical therapies. For example, enhanced treatment of Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Diabetes, Cancers, Multiple Sclerosis, Arthritis, Hemophilia, and Bone Fractures have all been made possible via biotechnology.
- Biotechnology-related products have reached sales over $500 billion per year and experienced a growth rate of 24% since the beginning of this century.
- Currently, job openings for biotechnologists are predicted to climb at a faster than average rate until 2014.
