The technician in a molecular biology laboratory is a resourceful scientist who specializes in the various experimental techniques critical to the mission of the laboratory. The work offers many rewards beyond the financial ones. For example, one of the rewards of working as a laboratory technician lies in being part of a team dedicated to scientific discovery. Another rewarding aspect of the laboratory technician position is the need for continual learning, as new scientific techniques replace older ones.

Skills of the Laboratory Technician

Technicians must possess a variety of skills, depending on the work being done in the laboratory in which they work. For example, a technician in a laboratory that studies human genetic polymorphisms will be skilled in the techniques of DNA isolation and DNA sequencing. DNA may be isolated from cultured human cells, which the technician would grow, or from tissue biopsies or blood...