I Want to Work in .... Biotechnology
Involves making a micro-organism capable of producing desirable biochemicals not available via chemical synthesis.
Uses of Biotechnology
Traditionally brewing and dairy products, olives.
More recently- Medical and veterinary fields.
- Genetic engineering - improved plants.
- Health care products - antibiotics, vaccines, hormones - fermentation scientist.
- Biochemical products - enzymes, vitamins, flavours, organic solvents.
- Agricultural - nitrogen fixation, composting.
- Metal extraction - copper.
- Sewage and waste treatment - pollutant degradation.
- Energy industry - generating methane fuel from sewage and effluents.
Jobs
- Bioprocess technology and development
- Fermentation Scientist
- Genetic manipulation and engineering
- Protein engineering
- Downstream processing
- Cell Culture
- Production
- Quality Assurance
Skills required:
- receptivity to new ideas
- flexibility
- problem solving
- teamworking in a multidisciplinary team.
Multi disciplinary
- microbiology is the main discipline plus biochemistry, molecular biology, genetics, immunology, biochemical and chemical engineering. Not a distinct discipline.
- mainly postgraduate/PhD/postdoc. recruitment - not much for first degree people.
Major employers
There are about 450 biotech companies in the UK employing about 21,000 employees. UK Companies account for 35% of products (drug development) in Europe & have 41% of new drug development in late stage clinical trials
- Much of the biotechnology growth is in small companies - research and development posts in University Science Parks and new companies providing specialist products based on novel biotechnology.
- Large Pharmaceutical and Chemical Companies such as Unilever Research, GSK, Pfizer.
- Food Companies also recruit biotechnologists.
- Public Sector Research establishments and research councils such as the Food Research Association and the Brewing Research Foundation.
- Water Companies waste treatment
- Universities
Biotechnology is a rapidly growing sector with many universities doing research into the area and then setting up their own businesses. An ageing workforce suggests that their may be skills shortages over the next 10 years.
The recession has meant that some projects have been postponed. There has been a farming out of research at Pfizer and SKB to the smaller pharmaceutical and biotech companies, as they can do this more cheaply than in-house. Some of the smaller pharmaceutical companies and scientific services organisations are growing due to larger companies outsourcing to them and also new drug discoveries.
- AEA Technology www.aeat.co.uk
- Alpha Laboratories www.alphalabs.co.uk
- Celltech www.celltechgroup.com
- Genzyme www.genzyme.com
- IDS www.idsltd.com
- Oxoid www.oxoid.com/uk/index.asp
- Vernalis www.vernalis.com
Biotechnology Links
- The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council www.bbsrc.ac.uk Careers Information and Jobs in Biotechnology
- Bioindustry Association www.bioindustry.org list of UK Biotechnology firms plus profiles
- London Biotechnology Network www.londonmedicine.ac.uk lists firms by sector in London
- BioHealthMatics www.biohealthmatics.com Good job vacancy site covering Bioinformatics, Health Informatics, Health IT or Health Tech, Biotechnology and Telemedicine Jobs.
University of Kent MRes. and MSc Biotechnology Graduate Destinations |
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| Senior Associate Scientist (3 graduates) | Pfizer | Cancer Research UK | PhD |
| Scientist | Lilly | UCL | PhD Cell Biology |
| Development Scientist | DNA Res.Inovation Ltd | UCL | Research Assistant |
| London Metropolitan Univ. | Lab Technician | UCL | PhD |
| University of Kent | PhD Biochemistry (7 grads) | UCL | PhD Molecular Medicine |
| University of Kent | PhD Biosciences (2) | Nottingham Univ. | PhD Microbiology |
| University of Kent | PhD Microbiology | University of Nottingham | PhD Immunology |
| University of Kent | MPhil. Microbiology | Manchester Univ. | PhD Cellular Biology |
| University of Sheffield | PhD Haemophilia | Bristol | PhD (2) |
| Guy's Hospital | Research Technician/PhD Biotechnology | Reading University | PhD Biochemistry |
| Queen Mary & Westfield | PhD Biomedical Research | Imperial College | PhD Molecular Biology |
| Queen Mary & Westfield | PhD Biology | Travelling abroad | |
Last fully updated February 2012