Career Prospects in Biotechnology

1. Career Prospects in Biotechnology Biotechnology is a modern interdisciplinary branch of science and there are ample opportunities to explore new frontiers of science. As the name suggests, biotechnology combines both biology and technology to give rise to various new fields like virology, immunology, agriculture, health, plant physiology, cell-biology, and seed technology etc. and create useful products for a specific purpose. The application of biotechnology is growing over the years and is catering to various industrial sectors like textile, food, agriculture, pharmaceutical, animal husbandry, and more. Pic 1: Biotechnology Industry Career Scopes In this era of amazing innovations and new applications, the scope of career options in the field of biotechnology is immense. There are great resources for career opportunities for those, who want to enter the field of technology in various different sectors. Biotechnologists may enter industrial sector, medical sector, environmental sector, food manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare. Professionals can specialise in one or more subfields like proteomics, genomics, and bioinformatics. Students, who have interests in research and development, can go for Ph.D. degrees in biotechnology and related areas. Biotechnology graduates can work as research assistants or research technicians. They can help lead researchers or scientists to conduct and monitor experiments, record data and prepare reports. Persons having master’s degree in biotechnology can work as a team lead to a research project or work as lab manager, teacher, or lecturer.

2. Candidates having doctorate or post-doctorate degrees can work as scientists, university lecturer, or lab director. Moreover, biotechnology students can get career options in the vast range of following industries- Pharmaceutical Healthcare Animal husbandry, Agriculture Genetic engineering Soil biology Environmental conservation Ecology Cosmetics Textiles Biotechnologists can also work in private, public, and government undertakings with specialisation in various sub-disciplines.  Biotechnologists can work under these following positions- Biological technician Medical scientist Clinical lab technologists and technicians Biomedical engineers Biochemists and biophysicists Epidemiologists Microbiologists Bio-manufacturing specialists Bio-production operators The field of biotechnology has developed very rapidly in recent years in the USA. In India also, there has been noticeable increase in the career prospects in biotechnology. Many academic institutes are offering certificates, bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral degrees in biotechnology. Professionals in the field of biotechnology are experts in scientific methods, which mean that they display extraordinary skills in critical thinking, decision-making, problem solving etc. Additionally, while skills of laboratory procedures is essential to learn, growth in computing power means that theses researchers must be skilful enough to handle powerful and field-specific software. In the coming years, the filed is going to develop more in size and number that will add value to overall growth of various industries. ---------------