Careers

If you're like many microbiology students, you may be taking this course because it's required for a nursing, dental hygiene, or other health career program. While taking the course, you may well have discovered that you enjoy problem-solving and working in the lab, and that you are fascinated by science. This page will introduce you to some career opportunities in the fast-growing field of microbiology — occupations you may not have considered or even known existed.

In general, careers in microbiology can be grouped into three categories:

(1) Basic research to establish factual information upon which more applied research can be based.

(2) Applied research to discover cures and treatments or develop products.

(3) Health professions making use of both basic and applied research to help people and animals.

• A pathologist is a physician who specializes in laboratory medicine and who serves as a bridge between clinical medicine and science. Requiring a medical degree and years of specialized study, pathology has many subspecialties, such as cytopathology, neuropathology, nuclear medicine, and forensic pathology.

• The medical technologist is key to research and preventive, as well as diagnostic, medicine. Requiring knowledge, skill, and speed, the medical technologist performs many kinds of tests--blood, bacteria, urine, and chemical analyses. Medical technologists can work in clinical or research environments, for public or private health agencies, or for pharmaceutical companies.

• Two other related job descriptions, which are often stepping stones to becoming a medical technologist (but which are satisfying careers themselves), are the medical laboratory technician and the certified laboratory assistant. At the beginning level, the certified laboratory assistant performs routine laboratory procedures, such as collecting blood specimens and staining slides for microorganisms. The medical laboratory technician performs more complex procedures but does not undertake the supervisory and educational responsibilities of medical technologists. With less rigorous education and on-the-job experience requirements, these positions can be found in all laboratories.

• Medical technologists can also choose from a number of subspecialties. Cytotechnologists specialize in the study of cells, while the histologic technician concentrates on body tissues. Specialists in blood banking technology are trained in advanced blood techniques, such as sophisticated blood typing, collection, and transfusions.

• Mycologists, sometimes called "the first microbiologists," study the relationship of fungi to the environment and can be found in clinical laboratories, in breweries, or our in the fields and forests.

• Virologists, often prominent in today's news because of their work with viral-related diseases, work with microorganisms so small that if people were the size of viruses, the world's population would fit on the head of a pencil eraser!

• Microbial physiologists and biochemists study the cell's metabolism and ability to adapt to its environment. Specialists such as these find work in the field or at sea, as well as in clinics, industry, or universities.

• Biotechnologists, including microbial geneticists and molecular biologists, work on the frontlines or research, with a wide range of opportunities in research and development programs, product design and testing, and the development of new diagnostic products and procedures.

• Pharmacologists specialize in the research and development of drugs to treat or prevent disease or to prolong life.

• Immunologists investigate diseases that affect the immune system and develop treatments and vaccines.

• Veterinary microbiologists analyze animal illnesses and disease cycles to develop effective disease control and prevention, especially important where endangered species are concerned.

• Food technologists investigate the chemical, physical, and biological nature of food and apply this knowledge to processing, preserving, packaging, distributing, and storing an adequate, nutritious, wholesome, and economical food supply.

• Respiratory therapists and respiratory therapy technicians treat patients with heart-lung problems by administering oxygen, various types of gases or aerosol drugs. They may also do diagnostic testing related to respiratory function.

• Nuclear medicine technologists assist with radioactive and radio-pharmaceutical treatment of patients as well as research.

• Nursing is another career that can be pursued on several levels, in hospitals, clinics, or doctors' offices. Responsibilities of the registered nurse (RN) often include diagnostic, patient-training, and supervisory duties, requiring completion of a BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) or ADN (Associate Degree in Nursing) program. Licensed vocational nurses (LVN) and licensed practical nurses (LPN) complete one-year diploma programs and perform less technical nursing functions, under supervision of RNs.

• In this era of preventive dentistry, the dental hygienist serves an increasingly important function, adding patient assessment and evaluation, as well as instruction in self-care, to hygiene treatment procedures.

• Physician's assistants work under a physician's supervision, performing examinations, giving treatments, counseling patients, and prescribing certain drugs.

• Microbiologists with special interests will find rewarding careers by specializing in agricultural, industrial, aquatic, or even space microbiology.

• For those whose interests lie outside the laboratory, a science education can be put to good use in such professions as medical illustrator, biological photographer, and medical or science writer, who combine their love of science with other specialized skills to assist research scientists, physicians, and medical educators.

• A background in microbiology can also lead to a job as a sales representative for medical or pharmaceutical companies.

For more information, you may want to consult the "Health Career Guidebook" published by the U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, available at most public libraries.

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