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Date: 11/17/2025

Biochemists and Biophysicists

Study the chemical composition or physical principles of living cells and organisms, their electrical and mechanical energy, and related phenomena. May conduct research to further understanding of the complex chemical combinations and reactions involved in metabolism, reproduction, growth, and heredity. May determine the effects of foods, drugs, serums, hormones, and other substances on tissues and vital processes of living organisms.

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    Work Activities

    Work Activities

    • Research the chemical effects of substances, such as drugs, serums, hormones, or food, on tissues or vital processes.
    • Produce pharmaceutically or industrially useful proteins, using recombinant DNA technology.
    • Study the chemistry of living processes, such as cell development, breathing and digestion, or living energy changes, such as growth, aging, or death.
    • Examine the molecular or chemical aspects of immune system functioning.
    • Study spatial configurations of submicroscopic molecules, such as proteins, using x-rays or electron microscopes.
    • Share research findings by writing scientific articles or by making presentations at scientific conferences.
    • Design or build laboratory equipment needed for special research projects.
    • Develop or execute tests to detect diseases, genetic disorders, or other abnormalities.
    • Determine the three-dimensional structure of biological macromolecules.
    • Develop or execute tests to detect diseases, genetic disorders, or other abnormalities.
    • Investigate the nature, composition, or expression of genes or research how genetic engineering can impact these processes.
    • Develop methods to process, store, or use foods, drugs, or chemical compounds.
    • Study physical principles of living cells or organisms and their electrical or mechanical energy, applying methods and knowledge of mathematics, physics, chemistry, or biology.
    • Prepare reports or recommendations, based upon research outcomes.
    • Develop or test new drugs or medications intended for commercial distribution.
    • Design or perform experiments with equipment, such as lasers, accelerators, or mass spectrometers.
    • Research transformations of substances in cells, using atomic isotopes.
    • Develop new methods to study the mechanisms of biological processes.
    • Study the mutations in organisms that lead to cancer or other diseases.
    • Research how characteristics of plants or animals are carried through successive generations.
    • Write grant proposals to obtain funding for research.
    • Prepare pharmaceutical compounds for commercial distribution.
    • Manage laboratory teams or monitor the quality of a team's work.
    • Teach or advise undergraduate or graduate students or supervise their research.
    • Isolate, analyze, or synthesize vitamins, hormones, allergens, minerals, or enzymes and determine their effects on body functions.

    Skills

    • Time Management

      Managing your time and the time of other people.

    • Systems Evaluation

      Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.

    • Quality Control Analysis

      Testing how well a product or service works.

    • Repairing

      Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.

    • Operations Analysis

      Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.

    • Systems Analysis

      Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.

    • Complex Problem Solving

      Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.

    • Instructing

      Teaching people how to do something.

    • Judgment and Decision Making

      Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.

    • Critical Thinking

      Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.

    • Negotiation

      Bringing people together to solve differences.

    • Installation

      Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.

    • Management of Personnel Resources

      Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.

    • Persuasion

      Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.

    • Active Listening

      Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.

    • Writing

      Writing things for co-workers or customers.

    • Active Learning

      Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.

    • Social Perceptiveness

      Understanding people's reactions.

    • Equipment Maintenance

      Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.

    • Management of Material Resources

      Managing equipment and materials.

    • Technology Design

      Making equipment and technology useful for customers.

    • Management of Financial Resources

      Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.

    • Speaking

      Talking to others.

    • Learning Strategies

      Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.

    • Service Orientation

      Looking for ways to help people.

    • Operations Monitoring

      Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.

    • Monitoring

      Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.

    • Operation and Control

      Using equipment or systems.

    • Reading Comprehension

      Reading work-related information.

    • Programming

      Writing computer programs.

    • Science

      Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.

    • Equipment Selection

      Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.

    • Mathematics

      Using math to solve problems.

    • Coordination

      Changing what is done based on other people's actions.

    • Troubleshooting

      Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.

    WorkKeys®

    Applied Math
    6
    Workplace Documents
    6
    Graphic Literacy
    5

    Abilities

    • Finger Dexterity

      Putting together small parts with your fingers.

    • Speed of Limb Movement

      Quickly moving your arms and legs.

    • Flexibility of Closure

      Seeing hidden patterns.

    • Hearing Sensitivity

      Telling the difference between sounds.

    • Manual Dexterity

      Holding or moving items with your hands.

    • Dynamic Strength

      Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.

    • Originality

      Creating new and original ideas.

    • Written Expression

      Communicating by writing.

    • Visualization

      Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.

    • Speed of Closure

      Quickly knowing what you are looking at.

    • Time Sharing

      Doing two or more things at the same time.

    • Spatial Orientation

      Knowing where things are around you.

    • Perceptual Speed

      Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.

    • Memorization

      Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.

    • Speech Recognition

      Recognizing spoken words.

    • Peripheral Vision

      Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.

    • Oral Expression

      Communicating by speaking.

    • Oral Comprehension

      Listening and understanding what people say.

    • Information Ordering

      Ordering or arranging things.

    • Number Facility

      Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.

    • Speech Clarity

      Speaking clearly.

    • Visual Color Discrimination

      Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.

    • Control Precision

      Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.

    • Response Orientation

      Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.

    • Near Vision

      Seeing details up close.

    • Multilimb Coordination

      Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.

    • Explosive Strength

      Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.

    • Trunk Strength

      Using your lower back and stomach.

    • Inductive Reasoning

      Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.

    • Mathematical Reasoning

      Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.

    • Category Flexibility

      Grouping things in different ways.

    • Wrist-Finger Speed

      Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.

    • Reaction Time

      Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.

    • Deductive Reasoning

      Using rules to solve problems.

    • Problem Sensitivity

      Noticing when problems happen.

    • Auditory Attention

      Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.

    • Depth Perception

      Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.

    • Static Strength

      Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.

    • Gross Body Coordination

      Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.

    • Night Vision

      Seeing at night or under low light.

    • Extent Flexibility

      Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.

    • Dynamic Flexibility

      Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

    • Gross Body Equilibrium

      Keeping your balance or staying upright.

    • Sound Localization

      Noticing the direction that a sound came from.

    • Arm-Hand Steadiness

      Keeping your arm or hand steady.

    • Stamina

      Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.

    • Rate Control

      Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.

    • Far Vision

      Seeing details that are far away.

    • Written Comprehension

      Reading and understanding what is written.

    • Fluency of Ideas

      Coming up with lots of ideas.

    • Selective Attention

      Paying attention to something without being distracted.

    • Glare Sensitivity

      Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.

    Knowledge

    • Administrative

      Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.

    • Food Production

      Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.

    • Philosophy and Theology

      Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.

    • Computers and Electronics

      Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

    • History and Archeology

      Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.

    • Sales and Marketing

      Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

    • Physics

      Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.

    • Telecommunications

      Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.

    • Communications and Media

      Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.

    • Personnel and Human Resources

      Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.

    • Sociology and Anthropology

      Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.

    • Fine Arts

      Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.

    • Education and Training

      Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

    • Medicine and Dentistry

      Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.

    • Public Safety and Security

      Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.

    • Biology

      Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.

    • English Language

      Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.

    • Customer and Personal Service

      Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

    • Economics and Accounting

      Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.

    • Administration and Management

      Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

    • Mathematics

      Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

    • Chemistry

      Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.

    • Law and Government

      Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.

    • Production and Processing

      Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.

    • Mechanical

      Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.

    • Geography

      Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.

    • Design

      Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.

    • Psychology

      Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.

    • Foreign Language

      Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.

    • Building and Construction

      Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.

    • Transportation

      Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.

    • Therapy and Counseling

      Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.

    • Engineering and Technology

      Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.

    Career Video

    Additional videos and more information available on CareerOneStop

    Pay

    • Ohio Annual Salary 83150/yr
    • Typical Salary
    • Ohio Hourly Wage 39.98/hr
    • Typical Hourly Wage

    Ohio Employment Trends

    • Currently Employed 290
    • Yearly Projected Openings 20

    Typical Education

    Personality

    Investigative: People interested in this work like activities that include ideas, thinking, and figuring things out.They do well at jobs that need:
    • Integrity
    • Analytical Thinking
    • Persistence
    • Attention to Detail
    • Achievement/Effort
    • Dependability

    Tools

    • Amino acid analyzers
    • Analytical balances
    • Benchtop centrifuges
    • Binocular light compound microscopes
    • Calorimeters
    • Camera controllers
    • Chemistry analyzers
    • Chilling units or cold water circulators
    • Cryogenic or liquid nitrogen freezers
    • Deoxyribonucleic sequence analyzers
    • Desktop computers
    • Digital camcorders or video cameras
    • Dropping pipettes
    • Dry baths or heating blocks
    • Dry wall single chamber carbon dioxide incubators
    • Electroencephalograph EEGs
    • Electron guns
    • Electron microscopes
    • Electronic toploading balances
    • Electrophoresis system power supplies
    • Flame ionization analyzers
    • Forced air or mechanical convection general purpose incubators
    • Freeze dryers or lyopholizers
    • Fume hoods or cupboards
    • Gamma counters
    • Gas chromatographs
    • Gel boxes
    • Gel documentation systems
    • Heat tracing equipment
    • Heating mantles or tapes
    • Hematology or chemistry mixers
    • High pressure liquid chromatograph chromatography
    • Homogenizers
    • Infrared spectrometers
    • Injectors
    • Instrumentation for capillary electrophoresis
    • Inverted microscopes
    • Ion analyzers
    • Irradiation gamma sources
    • Laboratory adapters or connectors or fittings
    • Laboratory balances
    • Laboratory beakers
    • Laboratory flasks
    • Laboratory funnels
    • Laboratory graduated cylinders
    • Laboratory heat exchange condensers
    • Laboratory hotplates
    • Laboratory mechanical convection ovens
    • Laboratory vacuum pumps
    • Laminar flow cabinets or stations
    • Laser printers
    • Lasers
    • Light scattering equipment
    • Liquid scintillation counters
    • Mainframe computers
    • Manual or electronic hematology differential cell counters
    • Mass spectrometers
    • Medical computed tomography CT or CAT scanners or tubes
    • Medical imaging wet darkroom or daylight processors
    • Medical magnetic resonance imaging MRI scanners
    • Medical positron emission tomography PET units
    • Medical radiation dosimeters
    • Medical x ray darkroom accessories
    • Microbiology analyzers
    • Microcentrifuges
    • Microplate readers
    • Microscope slides
    • Microtomes
    • Mobile or transportable medical linear accelerators
    • Multipurpose or general test tubes
    • Notebook computers
    • Nuclear magnetic resonance NMR spectrometers
    • Optical beamsplitters
    • Orbital shakers
    • Orbital shaking water baths
    • Osmometers
    • Paramagnetic susceptibility analyzers
    • Pasteur or transfer pipettes
    • Personal computers
    • Photo attachments for microscopes
    • Piezo electric crystals
    • Plotter printers
    • Polarimeters
    • Polarizing microscopes
    • Pressure indicators
    • Protective hood
    • Protein analyzers
    • Reactors or fermenters or digesters
    • Refrigerated and heated reach in environmental or growth chambers
    • Refrigerated benchtop centrifuges
    • Rheometers
    • Robotic or automated liquid handling systems
    • Scanners
    • Scanning electron microscopes
    • Scanning light or spinning disk or laser scanning microscopes
    • Scanning probe microscopes
    • Shaking incubators
    • Signal conditioners
    • Signal generators
    • Spectrofluorimeters or fluorimeters
    • Spectrometers
    • Spectrophotometers
    • Standard fermentation units
    • Steam autoclaves or sterilizers
    • Tissue processors
    • Transilluminators
    • Transmission electron microscopes
    • Tweezers
    • Ultra violet water purification units
    • Ultracentrifuges
    • Ultrasonic cleaning equipment
    • Ultrasonic disintegrators
    • Vacuum or centrifugal concentrators
    • Viscosimeters
    • Water baths
    • X ray diffraction equipment
    • X ray generators
    • pH meters

    Technology

    • Analytical or scientific software
    • Computer aided design CAD software
    • Data base user interface and query software
    • Data mining software
    • Electronic mail software
    • Enterprise application integration software
    • Enterprise resource planning ERP software
    • Geographic information system
    • Graphics or photo imaging software
    • Information retrieval or search software
    • Internet browser software
    • Inventory management software
    • Object or component oriented development software
    • Office suite software
    • Operating system software
    • Presentation software
    • Process mapping and design software
    • Spreadsheet software
    • Word processing software
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