Biochemistry job opportunities: where do biochemists work?

If you’re considering biochemistry as your potential future career, you’re likely interested in the current biochemistry job opportunities. This is an important step that will allow you to understand more about what daily life looks like in a biochemistry job.

Biochemistry job opportunities: one profession, diverse industries

Without a doubt, when one considers biochemistry job opportunities, the most common answer typically refers to laboratory environments. Without regard to the specific industry or subsector where the biochemistry job takes place, most times it will be connected to some sort of laboratory. However, as we’ll see, this doesn’t always have to be the case.

For example, it’s possible examine the job of environmental biochemists. These professionals travel a lot and tend to work outdoors, as their job position involves field work. In fact, the areas of work for a biochemist (both inside and outside laboratory environments) are multiple and can be classified in the following categories:

• Pharma industry
• Agro-food industry
• Educational institutions
• Technical consultancy services
• Clinical analysis in medicine
• Other manufacturing industries

The following paragraphs describe each of these fields in detail: 

Pharma industry

Without a doubt, the pharma industry is one of the main contexts for biochemistry job opportunities. This is due to the current extended demand for applied knowledge to develop medicines and drugs that can help treat health disorders of all sorts.

Thus, there are several fields within the pharma industry where the skills and knowledge of biochemists will come in handy and turn into biochemistry job opportunities:

• Disease research. Using analytic and experimental tools, biochemists that are devoted to these areas are those that discover, study, describe and try to develop treatments for all sorts of illnesses.
• Human immunology. Among other goals, we could mention the job of biochemists in developing vaccines for human beings.
• Biomedicine. Although it’s not an exclusive area for the pharma industry, biomedicine plays a key role in the pharma industry, a field where biochemists can find excellent job opportunities.
• Quality control. In this area, the biochemist is in charge of performing tests that check if the effects of pharma treatments and medicines are those desired, as part of the verification process that takes place before commercializing them.

Agro-food industry: what are the biochemistry job opportunities in this sector?

Biochemists can also find great biochemistry job opportunities in the agro-food industry. The main tasks for a biochemistry job position in the agro-food sector are related to research, which allows us to understand how nutrition works and optimizing the manufacturing processes of final products, among other things.

However, this research activity might take place beyond the industrial sector, including specialized departments within universities or even independent laboratories. In any case, when focusing on the practical applications of the knowledge of the biochemist in the agro-food sector, we must highlight the following two areas:

• Quality control. Biochemists work to verify correct production as well as quality and security of different food products as part of manufacturer’s laboratories, or as independent professionals.
• Farming. Some biochemists can also be employed in the treatment of farming products, including those related to cattle.

Educational institutions

It’s well-known that the academic sector and university institutions (both public and private) represent common options for biochemistry job opportunities related to research. In this regard, university centers often include both teaching and research roles, both in long-term biochemistry job opportunities as well as fixed-term contracts.

The role of this sort of biochemistry job often involves the search for funding in all sorts of public or private institutions. Without a doubt, education is a discipline that often appeals to biochemists that are particularly inclined towards spreading their knowledge.

Technical consultancy services as a biochemistry job

Of course, biochemistry job opportunities are also available in all sorts of sectors where the specialized knowledge and skills of a biochemist are employed to approach diverse scientific projects. These work areas might involve, among others:

• Lab technician. A biochemist might take part in both independent studies as well as being responsible for assisting peers in their own research, being in charge of project coordination and managing all related documentation.
• Research optimization. An experienced biochemist might also be hired as an assistant with the aim of contributing an additional point of view to an already existing study, reviewing results and contributing additional conclusions, helping optimize all processes in the laboratory.
• Specific consultations. In this area, it’s possible for a company or organization to hire a biochemist as an external consultant in order to undertake a study with a particular goal. For instance, this would be useful in the case of an environmental biochemist who is entrusted with reviewing the level of air pollution in a given city environment.
• Legal expert. Finally, the biochemist may act as a legal expert that is hired to present specialized scientific proof in court.

Clinical analysis in medicine

Of course, a biochemist can also work in both the Public Health area and private health institutions. The biochemist may be in charge of executing or supervising all required analysis related to applicable diagnostic techniques. Thus, a biochemist job in this area will focus on clinical and bacteriological laboratories, where blood, urine of fecal samples are analyzed.

Thanks to a comprehensive biochemist’s work, whose results will be notified to the corresponding medical service, diagnostics can be performed and treatments developed. 

Other manufacturing industries

Of course, the benefits of biochemistry knowledge are also applicable to many other industries and product manufacturing. In this regard, one of the key areas for biochemistry job opportunities is the cosmetic industry.

Thus, the biochemist might be in charge of the whole process, from product conception and a theoretical approach to the final production of the compound, which will be transferred to the final product.

Learn biochemistry at CEMP

Now that you’ve learned about the multitude of biochemistry job opportunities, do you find it an interesting profession?

Accessing the right training such as the Master’s in Molecular Biology by CEMP, you’ll be able to develop a career in this field in a wide variety of sectors.

Get in touch with us to request more information about our Master’s with no obligation!