Biotechnology is one of the fastest growing and most promising professional fields. The reason biotech jobs are growing at an exponential rate is that mankind has reached a crossroads of sorts. Technology has the potential to make the human condition fundamentally different from what it has been in the past. Biotech job prospects are in abundance now and will only increase in abundance as humanity seeks to alter its circumstances by modifying foods, environments, animals, and even the human genome.
According to the Sci-Tech Encyclopedia, biotechnology is ''any technique that is used to make or modify the products of living organisms in order to improve plants or animals or to develop useful microorganisms. In modern terms, biotechnology has come to mean the use of cell and tissue culture, cell fusion, molecular biology, and, in particular, recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) technology to generate unique organisms with new traits or organisms that have the potential to produce specific products.''
The BIO (Biotechnology Industry Organization) tells us, ''The biotechnology industry originated in the 1970s, based largely on a new recombinant DNA technique whose details were published in 1973 by Stanley Cohen of Stanford University and Herbert Boyer of the University of California, San Francisco. Recombinant DNA is a method of making proteins — such as human insulin and other therapies — in cultured cells under controlled manufacturing conditions. Boyer went on to co-found Genentech, which today is biotechnology’s largest company by market capitalization.''
The biotech field, which is regulated by the FDA, has created hundreds of new therapies, vaccines, and pharmaceuticals used to treat a very wide array of diseases and conditions, including the worst diseases and illnesses currently plaguing humanity, such as brain wasting diseases, cancer, autoimmune disorders, diabetes, and AIDS.
Biotech jobs are providing mankind with unprecedentedly nourishing, pest-resistant foods, including genetically modified (GM) papayas, soybeans, corn, and tomatoes among other crops. In all fields, biotechnology is being used to produce less waste, involve less use of potentially harmful industrial chemicals and pesticides, clean up already existing waste (including hazardous waste), and use less water and less energy in industry.
Biotechnology is what has given us DNA testing and DNA fingerprinting, dramatically improving law enforcement, forensic medicine, and wildlife management.
The Business and Industry
Biotech jobs in the United States carry an average starting salary of about $60,000 a year. As of this writing, people who work at a biotech job for at least 10 years average over $81,000 a year in today’s dollars.
Among the top US cities for biotech jobs are San Diego, where biotech scientists average $78,478 a year; Boston, where the average is $77,847; Cambridge, Massachusetts, $83,408; San Francisco, $88,033; Seattle, $73,741; and Philadelphia, $67,133.
Biotech jobs are becoming more prominent throughout the United States in general, and will continue to do so. For instance, recently Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley rolled out a new biotechnology initiative in the form of business tax credits that calls for that state to invest an unprecedented $1.1 billion in biotechnology over the next ten years, increasing the amount from an already existing state program.
''It’s been a great program for us and a number of other biotechnology companies I know of. It has mitigated some of the risk of investing in biotechs and helped gain a greater pool of investors,'' said Marty Zug, CFO of Rockville clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Sequella.
''This is a good time for the governor to be showing that Maryland is stepping up and moving up to the big leagues,'' said Steve Bende, president and CEO of Rockville early-stage biotech Bacilligen, which is developing products to treat cancer and infectious diseases.
According to Donald Fry, president and CEO of the Greater Baltimore Committee, ''There is a significant industry presence in the state, [and] no other state can match our medical research capacity. Our proximity to federal agencies is unique, and our population is highly educated. Governor O’Malley’s vision for bioscience and the corresponding commitment of state resources can propel us as a top-tier state in this very competitive industry.''
Pepperdine University's Graziadio School of Business and Management and the Biotech Supply Chain Academy (BioSCA) have announced a joint sponsor initiative for the inaugural conference program to be held September 11th and 12th of 2008 at the South San Francisco Conference Center.
''California's biotech industry is shaping the future of healthcare, and our alumni represent senior executives who are driving this exciting new industry forward. We are pleased to be joining other esteemed universities on the inauguration of a program that will foster increased collaboration between experts, corporations, and researchers to streamline the biotech supply chain,'' says David M. Smith, PhD and Associate of Academic Affairs at Pepperdine University's Graziadio School of Business and Management.
There are 386 publicly traded biotech companies in the United States, and close to 2000 total.
Conclusion
Anyone who has an aptitude for science should seriously consider pursuing the education and training necessary to seek out biotech jobs. The rewards for those with biotech jobs include job security, personal satisfaction, good money, and professional excitement.
