Career options after Bsc Biotech / Microbiology / Biochemistry
The career path that we choose has a significant impact on many aspects of our life. Deciding a career path is undoubtedly one of the most significant challenging decisions to make, so it is much necessary to take enough time to consider all options very precisely.
If you have just passed your bachelor’s degree or are in your final year and wondering what next? What are the Career Options After Bsc Biotech / Microbiology / Biochemistry? Or if your a bioscience student & After the class 12 board exam, you are thinking to study BSc biotech / Microbiology or Biochemistry, but you are in dilemma regarding the career options in these fields, then you are at the exact right place.
This article will eradicate all your confusion by giving you an idea about these subject disciplines and also various career options that you can follow. It is essential to clear thoughts about the subject fields first.
Here we will be discussing about each field Bsc Biotech / Bsc Microbiology / Bsc Biochemistry in detail.
Let’s begin with,
BSc Biotech as career options
- Biotechnology
It is all about Engineering technologies which are based on different living organisms, and their biological systems are blended with the basic biological sciences to make various products which are applicable from other aspects, like in the healthcare sector, drugs, vaccines, medicine, agriculture, food science, pharmaceuticals, and environment detoxification or remediation, etc. In this subject field, living organisms are used to produce several useful biochemical compounds and other products which are applicable to carry out any industrial manufacturing process.
Biotechnology invokes the basic biological sciences such as genetics, microbiology, animal cell, and tissue culture, molecular biology, biochemistry, embryology, cell biology and also dependent on the knowledge and methodologies which are outside of the field of biologies such as chemical engineering, bioprocess engineering, information technology, and even bio-robotics. The Greek word “Bios,” meaning “everything to do with life,” and “Technikos,” meaning “human knowledge and skills.” So, the purpose of this field biotechnology is to improve the quality of human life.
In this 21st century, Biotechnology has proven its tremendous importance that it could revolutionize the entire world. This field of modern biological science has eradicated several problems, which are also associated with ethical issues and become an essential appliance for the advanced era. In this subjective field, job opportunities in the national as well as in the international market are increasing day by day. Biotech has given tremendous options for the students those who are interested in making their career after BSc or Msc biotech as a biotechnologist or even other jobs which are associated with this subject because
Applications of Biotechnology:
- Healthcare & medicine industry
- Agricultural processes
- Food processing industry
- Bio-fuels & bio-energy
- Chemical industry
- Environmental management
- Waste management
- Mining
- Forestry
- Aquaculture
- Animal husbandry,
- Soil conservation, etc.
Biotechnology deals with all the branches of natural sciences.
B.Sc. degree in biotechnology is more on the applied biological science aspect of biotechnology as a subject. Though the syllabus is designed in such a way that the syllabus also includes few other subjects which are related to industrial manufacturing processes, chemistry the main focus will be on Research and Developmental biology-related topics for that purpose basic biological concepts such as biochemistry, plant and animal biotechnology, microbiology, molecular biology, and microbial genetics, etc.
B.Sc. biotechnology curriculum mainly focuses on the following areas:
- Biochemistry
- Biophysics
- Molecular Biology
- Cell Biology
- Microbiology
- Immunology
- Genetics
- Animal & Plant Physiology
- Biostatistics
- Biodiversity
- Chemistry
- Bioprocess Engineering & Technology
- Bioenergetics
- Metabolomics
- Molecular Genetics
- Recombinant DNA Technology
- Nanotechnology
- Genomics & Proteomics
- Bio-instrumentation
- Plant Tissue Culture
As a biotechnologist, you may find jobs in various areas related to the above mentioned fields. Students can find job opportunities in the following fields, so let’s look at some of the career options after doing a bachelor’s in Biotechnology:
First of all, if you are a student in the BSc biotechnology field it is highly recommended that you should definitely pursue a master’s degree in this field, the reason is that the job opportunities for the biotech field are mainly in the research-oriented areas. That is why most of the students tend to pursue their Master’s in Biotechnology.
After a BSc degree, you can find job opportunities in various departments of pharmaceutical industries like in
Production, Quality assurance, and Quality control, Formulation, Packaging and storage, Sales and Marketing, etc. You can also find opportunities in the Clinical research sector as a Clinical Research Associate (CRA), Clinical Research Coordinator (CRC), Drug safety associate, etc. Contract Research Organizations (CRO) and few pharmaceutical companies, usually directly hire candidates for these above-mentioned positions from time to time.
A candidate with BSc biotechnology can find a work opportunity as a laboratory technician in various research, and educational institutes. As a laboratory technician, you must perform several works that allow researchers, students to conduct experimental studies and analytical processes inside the laboratory. You will be involved in different laboratory works such as sample collection, measuring, keeping records of materials, store-room maintenance as part of the entire research team.
2. Microbiology
This subject is all about microorganisms like Bacteria, viruses, fungi, etc. which are very small, microscopic hence can’t be seen through our naked eyes. Microbiology is a broad disciplinary field of biological science that involves the study about the function, structure, pathogenicity, and useful applications of existing microscopic organisms.
This field of study actually overlaps other various degree areas of biological sciences such as Biochemistry, molecular biology, genetics, immunology, etc.
Microbiology can offer one of the most promising career opportunities in this 21st century. This subject has a huge potential impact and direct involvement in various fields such as the Pharmaceutical industry, Medicine, Clinical research, Agriculture, Dairy and food industry, Water industry, Nanotechnology, Bioprocess industry, etc. Microbiologists study the characteristics and interactions of existing microorganisms with other living organisms like humans, which can affect our lives in several ways. As a microbiologist you can work in many different areas, this subject can offer you a variety of different job roles. As a microbiologist, you can make your careers either in the research field or in non-research fields.
If you are interested to start your career in the research field then it is highly recommended to pursue the master’s degree or even if students pursue their Ph.D. degrees in microbiology and related fields then as a Doctorate degree holder, much more exciting and promising pathways will be opened for them both in India and also worldwide.
For a graduate degree holder in Microbiology subject, the pharma/ Healthcare sector can provide you several opportunities, in various departments, such as Quality control Microbiology, and Quality Assurance. As a QC microbiologist in a pharma company, you will be involved in analyzing the quality of final products, raw materials, water quality, etc. As a Quality assurance executive, you will be involved in managing records, preparation of reports based on your observations, and implementation of safety procedures for testing in order to ensure final products meet the highest standards. Since the final products of every pharmaceutical company are mainly related to the public health and overall well-being which demands detailed monitoring and assessment of every step.
So, you can work in private organizations, where you will get a good salary along with the other benefits but in comparison, an experienced Microbiologist along with masters or even a Ph.D. degree can get a much striking salary package in both the private and government sector. In this field, hands-on experience matters a lot. Good academic records and work experience will ultimately help you to find out a suitable job role. This field can offer you a higher salary package only if you are an experienced microbiologist with a strong analytical and problem-solving ability. Microbiologists are also very much in demand worldwide, countries like the UK, US, France, Australia, and Germany where microbiologists are always in high demand.
A graduate degree in microbiology can provide you opportunities in other sectors also like, private and government hospitals, technicians in private laboratories, forensic science laboratories, environmental management organizations, educational institutions, food processing industry, Dairy industry, Alcohol, and beverage industry, Agricultural departments, and Bioprocess industry.
3. Biochemistry
This branch of biological science is concerned about the physiochemical reactions that take place within all living organisms. Biochemistry deals with the chemistry of life, all the chemical changes that occur within living organisms, it can be the degradation of specific substances to release the necessary energy that all living cells require or even the biosynthesis of any complex compound which must be necessary for life. An early pioneer of biochemistry was Carl Alexander Neuberg, who is also referred to as the “father of modern biochemistry” because of his discovery of the carboxylase enzyme and the explanation of alcoholic fermentation.
Biochemistry investigates numerous biochemical changes that are related to diseases, the action of drugs, and several other aspects of medicines, in nutrition, and also in agriculture. Biochemistry is comparatively a younger branch of biosciences, since 1900.
B.Sc. biochemistry syllabus mainly focuses on the following areas:
- Amino acids
- Protein
- Calculation of pH
- Enzyme kinetics
- Classical metabolic pathways
- Other broad topics like cell biology and molecular biology.
Basically, almost every essential biological process at the atomic level, molecular level, and also to the cellular level. Some other very specific subjects like Immunology, Microbiology, Virology, and Genetics can also be included in the syllabus at graduation level but the syllabus will mostly concentrating in-depth on the protein level, cellular and structural biology in order to cover these topics in a detailed manner, you have to go through your total degree on these. You will first need the basic molecular characteristics of it, but all syllabus patterns can vary, and this is depending on Colleges and Institutes.
Though a graduation degree can provide you several scopes because Biochemistry is one of the major subjects under biosciences, so this will provide you so many options that you can choose, as you can go for a further higher study like Masters and Ph.D. which is highly recommended. Especially if you are interested to start your career in a research-oriented field, then it is highly recommended to pursue a master’s degree and even Ph.D. degrees.
Biochemistry mainly investigates the chemical basis of life in all living organisms including plants, animals, and humans. It is one of the most developed fields of bioscience, adding one of the greatest impacts in Medical science and healthcare science, Agricultural Sciences, Pharmaceutical industry, Molecular biology research, and Forensic science, etc.
Major branches of Biochemistry are as follows:
- Animal biochemistry
- Plant biochemistry
- Medical biochemistry
- Clinical biochemistry
- Environmental biochemistry
- Nutritional biochemistry
- Industrial biochemistry
Biochemistry can provide you with a nice scope in clinical research laboratories, pharmaceutical companies, pathology labs, etc. With a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry, mainly there will be some entry-level research associate/ research assistant/ laboratory assistant positions in pharmaceutical companies. Job roles for these entry-level positions are mainly focused on several repetitive tasks like loading instruments, running standard assays, etc. This field can offer you a higher salary package only if you are highly experienced. It is highly recommended to get some hands-on experience during and after completion of graduation which will be very much valuable.
Different subjective fields have their own importance, merits and demerits, hence none of the fields can replace any other. There are so many things which are necessary to consider while choosing a career, like your own interest, skills, competitive intensities, etc. Students need to assess their own adroitness and interest, depending on your interest you can take necessary measures.
Author: Pousali & Sruthi S
Keywords: Career options after Bsc Biotech / Microbiology / Biochemistry, Career options after bsc biotech, career options after bsc microbiology, career options after bsc biochemistry, bsc life science career options.
It is very helpful ..Thank u so much for information