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Well, it was old times when biotechnology only meant scientists in labs skittering around and developing new drugs or equipment. But now the time has transformed and so have the field and career options in biotechnology. Biotechnology has many notions attached to its name and not all are true. Once, biotechnology represented a career in labs and research centers. Now with time, development, and more awareness about this distant branch of medicine is seen as an opportunity to build a successful career and make a difference.

Moreover in today’s practical world biotechnology is a major contributorto the economy and produces employment on large scale. Not only that, biotechnology is a major contributor to the community and humankind. Where would we be if we have not yet discovered the vaccination for polio or other historic pandemics?

Biotechnology is as important as any other branch of medicine and presents many career options. Associate teaching professor of Northeastern MS in Biotechnology shares his take on biotechnology and its best career opportunities to shape your future.

What is biotechnology?

The biggest misgiving is that biotechnology is in the lab career only to be a lab technician or a researcher, but the field of biotechnology has so many more aspects and subdivisions. Today Biotechnology is a complex field with new and modern frontiers of science. The catering and services of biotechnology have now extended to food, pharmaceuticals, and many other disciplines.

Biotechnology is now not just an extension of the unique and useful branch of biology and technology but it is a field of its own that contributes to every other sector in some or the other way.

Every aspect of human life today is affected by this joint sector of science and technology.

Careers in Biotechnology- what will a Biotechnology degree give you?

A biotechnology degree will pave way for the young minds to find a footing in the field they want to give their services as biotechnologists. In biotechnology, a degree student learns about the basic workings of all the components’ of the biotechnology field. A multidisciplinary approach is taken by most of the institutions in their degree program, giving practical knowledge of the field with the traditional study. Although there are many types of programs in biotechnology and have their aims and missions.

The areas where you can take a position after doing your degree in biotechnology.

• Research and development
• Quality supervision
• Clinical research
• Sales and technical department
• Government sector
• Software engineer
• Business management
• Food animal and environmental science

Biotechnology has applications in several fields and industries, which give the students the benefit to choose from many career options and organizations to work for.

Biotechnology employers range from all types of companies, government, and private agencies, independent start-ups, research labs, pharmaceutical companies, etc.

Some of the most promising and in-demand biotechnological careers are-

• Bioinformatician- A Bioinformatician design tools, build information, analyses data, etc. to build a career as a bioinformatician one does require a Ph.D. in biotechnology with a grip on informatics, computational biology, molecular biology, and genomics. If a candidate is component enough and can demonstrate skills in the field.
  Fluency in computational and programming languages is a crucial requirement.
• Bio-technical Scientist- A very respected and esteemed post in the biotechnological field which requires qualification of Ph.D. and at-least a year of work experience. A bio-technical scientist usually works with a team or even led a team of scientists. For this job you really should have great interpersonal skills in your respective field of expertise.
• Computer and Information Research scientist- let the name not fool you. The role of data in designing a drug or a product is very important and crucial. Their role is to build new technologies and find better ways to use existing technology and data. There is an estimated 16% growth in jobs for information scientists until 2025.
• Phlebotomists- They have a significant role in the daily collection and testing of blood for medical testing. Drawing blood for transfusion, medical tests, research, donations, etc are part of their job profile. Laboratories, labs, blood blanks, research centers, donation centers, hospitals are places in need of Phlebotomists.
• Mangers for medical and health services- In health care services ‘planning, managing, and coordination of all the operations in the business are done by these managers. Clinical managers, clinical trial managers or clinical research managers, health care executives, health care administration are common job profiles but in simple words, they very much handle how a health service will run most efficiently and profitably. It is a great career for those who do not want a lab job.
• Genetic Counselors- Genetic health and solutions had gain momentum in recent years and is a good career option for biotechnologists who are interested in this field. Though an advanced course and education are required for a most solid footing. They give personal help and assistance to patients with a genetic disease and guide them through their treatment and solutions by giving advice and consultation.

We hope your some of the doubts are clear and you have got an idea about the best and in-demand career options of Biotechnology. Got any other doubt, feel free to contact blallab.com for more information regarding biotechnology career, best courses in biotechnology, scope of biotechnology in India and abroad etc.