Environmental laboratory technician vs biology laboratory assistant

The differences between environmental laboratory technicians and biology laboratory assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become an environmental laboratory technician, becoming a biology laboratory assistant takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, an environmental laboratory technician has an average salary of $40,682, which is higher than the $34,240 average annual salary of a biology laboratory assistant.

The top three skills for an environmental laboratory technician include lab equipment, water samples and sops. The most important skills for a biology laboratory assistant are lab equipment, biology laboratory, and chemistry.

Environmental laboratory technician vs biology laboratory assistant overview

	Environmental Laboratory Technician	Biology Laboratory Assistant
Yearly salary	$40,682	$34,240
Hourly rate	$19.56	$16.46
Growth rate	9%	9%
Number of jobs	58,055	48,958
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 66%	Bachelor's Degree, 71%
Average age	38	40
Years of experience	2	4

What does an environmental laboratory technician do?

Environmental laboratory technicians are professionals who are responsible for testing all contaminants that may affect the environment and the health of both humans and wildlife. These technicians are required to prepare and test samples such as gases, soils, water, and industrial wastewater to determine the level of pollutants or identify the sources of contamination. They must discuss and report the summary of the data from test results with supervisors and customers. Environmental laboratory technicians must also design monitoring programs and set up equipment when working in the field.

What does a biology laboratory assistant do?

A biology laboratory assistant is in charge of assisting scientists or researchers and performing laboratory support tasks on a daily basis. Their responsibilities include setting up and sanitizing equipment, preparing samples, maintaining documentation of all experiments and procedures, writing laboratory reports, and running errands as needed. There are also instances where they must update databases, answer calls and correspondence, and grade student papers. Furthermore, a biology laboratory assistant must maintain the cleanliness of laboratories, all while implementing its policies and regulations.

Environmental laboratory technician vs biology laboratory assistant salary

Environmental laboratory technicians and biology laboratory assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Environmental Laboratory Technician	Biology Laboratory Assistant
Average salary	$40,682	$34,240
Salary range	Between $29,000 And $56,000	Between $22,000 And $52,000
Highest paying City	-	Bridgewater, MA
Highest paying state	-	Massachusetts
Best paying company	-	Massachusetts General Hospital
Best paying industry	-	Government

Differences between environmental laboratory technician and biology laboratory assistant education

There are a few differences between an environmental laboratory technician and a biology laboratory assistant in terms of educational background:

	Environmental Laboratory Technician	Biology Laboratory Assistant
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 66%	Bachelor's Degree, 71%
Most common major	Biology	Biology
Most common college	University of California, Berkeley	Duke University

Environmental laboratory technician vs biology laboratory assistant demographics

Here are the differences between environmental laboratory technicians' and biology laboratory assistants' demographics:

	Environmental Laboratory Technician	Biology Laboratory Assistant
Average age	38	40
Gender ratio	Male, 60.9% Female, 39.1%	Male, 36.7% Female, 63.3%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.5% Unknown, 5.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.8% Asian, 10.5% White, 56.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0%	Black or African American, 12.4% Unknown, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 13.7% Asian, 14.9% White, 50.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 2.5%
LGBT Percentage	8%	6%

Differences between environmental laboratory technician and biology laboratory assistant duties and responsibilities

Environmental laboratory technician example responsibilities.

Manage daily RCRA inspections and mechanical, electrical, and electronic equipment preventive/corrective maintenance procedures.
Support short and long term projects meeting establish deadlines such as the upcoming revisions to the USP heavy metals testing.
Initiate and maintain paperwork in accordance with FDA guidelines and perform investigations for any deviant results.
Perform internal audits of laboratories in accordance with current standard operating procedure of good laboratory practices and FDA regulations.
Assist HAZWOPER technicians with logistical support for operations on project operations including research of facilities and vendors need for project completion.
Monitor temperature and pressure of production distillation towers

Biology laboratory assistant example responsibilities.

Comfort frighten patients and maintain an exceptionally bright professional demeanor to accomplish a procedure that makes most people very uncomfortable.
Set up gel electrophoresis, clean slides, run experiments.
Prepare culture media and ELISA samples following standard procedures.
Prepare stock solutions, media for growing bacteria and yeast, electrophoresis gels and pouring agar plates.
Aid students independently with laboratory work regarding basic principles of evolution, genetics, ecology, and molecular and cellular biology.
Supervise and train fellow colleagues in GC, GC-MS, ATR-IR, FTIR, UV/Vis and DSC.

Environmental laboratory technician vs biology laboratory assistant skills

Common environmental laboratory technician skills

Lab Equipment, 9%
Water Samples, 8%
Sops, 6%
Environmental Samples, 6%
Test Equipment, 5%
Environmental Lab, 4%

Common biology laboratory assistant skills

Lab Equipment, 38%
Biology Laboratory, 6%
Chemistry, 4%
Anatomy, 4%
Physiology, 3%
Lab Experiments, 3%

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Environmental Laboratory Technician
Environmental Laboratory Technician vs Biology Laboratory Assistant

Updated January 8, 2025

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