How To Become A Research Biochemist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a research biochemist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted experts

Dr. Betsy Smith,

Daniel Patten Ph.D.

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a research biochemist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $36.85 an hour? That's $76,649 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 17% and produce 20,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a research biochemist?

Dr. Betsy Smith

Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Elmira College

I would advise students just graduating to be flexible and open-minded in their job search. Chemistry is a challenging major, and students who succeed in it have learned how to learn, so they shouldn't assume that pure chemistry is the only thing they can do. One growing field is biomedical research, and chemistry majors are often qualified for jobs in that area. If you have other strengths, like writing, there are often jobs that can combine them as a technical writer or work for a science journal. There are jobs out there that might be perfect for you that you haven't heard of until you see an ad for it, so be open to different possibilities.

ScoreResearch BiochemistUS Average

Salary

6.0

Avg. Salary $76,649

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.3

Growth rate 17%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

2.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.15%

Asian 26.21%

Black or African American 6.57%

Hispanic or Latino 9.85%

Unknown 4.16%

White 53.06%

Gender

female 44.04%

male 55.96%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

6.3

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.8

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.7

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a research biochemist

Explore research biochemist education requirements

Most common research biochemist degrees

Bachelor's

68.6 %

Master's

14.4 %

Doctorate

12.8 %

Start to develop specific research biochemist skills

Skills	Percentages
Assay Development	15.56%
Protein Analysis	11.57%
R	5.39%
Research Projects	4.82%
HPLC	4.81%

Complete relevant research biochemist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New research biochemists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a research biochemist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real research biochemist resumes.

Research research biochemist duties and responsibilities

Manage the development of innovative visualization and concept mapping of contest environment analysis challenges and analyst skill sets.
Develop, validate and implement biochemical, enzyme, ELISA and cell-base assays as primary and secondary screening assays.
Investigate DNA / protein homologies between species using DNA analysis software.
Schedule GMP activity and coordinate testing and cleaning of the area.

Prepare your research biochemist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your research biochemist resume.

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