Job Areas

Agriculture is the science or practice of raising crops or rearing animals to produce products such as food, fiber, cooking oil, and other items. Technology, including ...

Animals are used in many ways in biotechnology.  The animals in research labs help us better understand biology and serve as biological test systems.  Other animals and animal ...

Aquaculture is a term that describes methods for growing fish, plants, and other creatures in freshwater and marine environments.  

Biotechnology intersects with aquaculture in ...

Biodefense technicians are concerned with protecting air, food, and water from pathogenic microorganisms that could be released by hostile countries or terrorists.  Important areas ...

Biofuels are substances such as diesel and ethanol that are purified from natural sources and used as fuel.  Sources of biofuels include algae, corn, and switchgrass.

Biomanufacturing produces a wide range of biobased products for the emerging global bioeconomy. Biomanufacturing begins with bioprospecting – the discovery and commercialization of ...

Some biotechnology companies make new products by researching or chemically modifying biological materials.   Red algae, for example, make fluorescent molecules that can be used in ...

Biopharmaceuticals are drugs that can be used to treat disease.  If these drugs are protein-based, they are often produced by finding a gene that codes for the protein and cloning ...

Bioprocessing is another way to describe biomanufacturing.  This area includes the design and development of methods and equipment for manufacturing products from biological ...

Biotechnology involves using living organisms or substances derived from living organisms, such as DNA or proteins, to make some kind of product. Many different kinds of products ...

Cell culture involves growing cells from animals, plants, insects, and fungi in culture. This is done because it's easier to do experiments on individual cells than on animals.  It ...

Conservation biology is a job area concerned with monitoring the health and population of wild animals and plants.  Conservation biologists use biotechnology methods to measure ...

Biotechnology has impacted cosmetics in many ways.  Cosmetics companies use biotechnology both to discover and manufacture components of cosmetics and to evaluate the effects of ...

Many biotechnology products, especially biopharmaceuticals, require extensive tests for safety and effiicacy.  Documentation specialists ensure that proper records are kept ...

Drug discovery is an important area of biotechnology.  This process involves screening genes, peptides, proteins, or other substances for their therapeutic potential, and ...

Biotechnology lab experiments have become a common part of many high school and college curricula.  Not only do students use biotechnology methods to perform original research ...

Biotechnology laboratory methods such as Next Generation DNA sequencing and microarrays are increasingly being used to monitor our environment and test samples of air, water, and ...

Our increasingly global food supply has increased the potential spread and harm from food-borne disease.  Biotechnology methods can be applied to identifying pathogens and harmful ...

Forensics technicians analyze samples such as DNA, blood, and other materials, in criminal investigations.

Genomics involves measuring everything about a genome and the changes between genomes.  The genome consists of all the nucleic acid inside of a cell.  This includes all the ...

Immunochemistry involves working with components of the immune system.  These materials may include antibodies, signaling molecules such as cytokines, and cells that function in ...

Laboratory safety is an area concerned with protecting the safety of people inside and outside of a laboratory workplace.   This area is especially important because laboratory ...

Marine biotechnology is an area where products are derived or developed from a wide variety of marine animals and plants.   This area also includes aquaculture, where aquatic ...

All laboratories require special solutions for performing experiments.  If a lab cultures cells or microbes of any kind, they also need media for growth.  Bacteria and cells can ...

Medical devices are used to help power the heart, deliver drugs, diagnose disease, obtain x-rays, and carry out a variety of tasks. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ...

Many of the tests used by medical laboratories have been developed through biotechnology.  These include antibody tests such as ELISAs, PCR, DNA sequencing, bacterial ...

Molecular biology involves working with DNA, RNA, cells, and / or proteins.  Molecular biologists may clone genes, sequence DNA, purify proteins, product antibodies, and perform ...

Biotechnology is used to identify and characterize natural products with commercial potential.  Some examples are enzymes that can function at higher or lower temperatures than ...

Nutraceutricals are substances with a role in nutrition that may also function in a health-related capacity. Many of these substances have anti-oxidant properties.  Biotechnicians ...

Biotechnology is used in many ways in the agriculture and horiticulture industries.  Orchids have become a common site in many grocery stores because they can be grown on a large ...

Protein purification is a common task in biotechnology.  This process involves producing the cells or organisms that make the protein and separating the protein away from ...

Quality control is an important area in many companies.  The people who work in quality control perform different kinds of tests to ensure the identity, purity, and activity of the ...

Many chemicals such as antibiotics and small molecules can be made through bacterial fermentation.  In these processes, bacteria are grown in fermentors and the chemicals are ...

Synthetic biology is an area where scientists and technicians engineer bacteria and yeast to improve the production of diverse chemicals.  This may involve recreating entire ...

Vaccines are substances that stimulate the immune system, so that it will protect against disease.  Biotechnology methods help identify the candidate molecules that might stimulate ...

Water is the most important substance for supporting life.  It's also a major route for transmission of disease.  Biotechnology methods are used to screen water and identify ...