Senior laboratory scientist vs research fellow

The differences between senior laboratory scientists and research fellows can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a senior laboratory scientist and a research fellow. Additionally, a senior laboratory scientist has an average salary of $88,562, which is higher than the $53,823 average annual salary of a research fellow.

The top three skills for a senior laboratory scientist include GMP, FDA and cell culture. The most important skills for a research fellow are patients, research projects, and data analysis.

Senior laboratory scientist vs research fellow overview

	Senior Laboratory Scientist	Research Fellow
Yearly salary	$88,562	$53,823
Hourly rate	$42.58	$25.88
Growth rate	17%	17%
Number of jobs	77,364	59,746
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 69%	Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Average age	41	41
Years of experience	4	4

Senior laboratory scientist vs research fellow salary

Senior laboratory scientists and research fellows have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Senior Laboratory Scientist	Research Fellow
Average salary	$88,562	$53,823
Salary range	Between $61,000 And $128,000	Between $39,000 And $72,000
Highest paying City	-	South San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	-	Hawaii
Best paying company	-	McKinsey & Company Inc
Best paying industry	-	Non Profits

Differences between senior laboratory scientist and research fellow education

There are a few differences between a senior laboratory scientist and a research fellow in terms of educational background:

	Senior Laboratory Scientist	Research Fellow
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 69%	Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Most common major	Chemistry	Chemistry
Most common college	Duke University	Duke University

Senior laboratory scientist vs research fellow demographics

Here are the differences between senior laboratory scientists' and research fellows' demographics:

	Senior Laboratory Scientist	Research Fellow
Average age	41	41
Gender ratio	Male, 75.0% Female, 25.0%	Male, 55.3% Female, 44.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 6.2% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 26.5% White, 53.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%	Black or African American, 6.4% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.6% Asian, 27.1% White, 52.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage	8%	8%

Differences between senior laboratory scientist and research fellow duties and responsibilities

Senior laboratory scientist example responsibilities.

Manage study protocols and study conduct, intimately involve in the toxicology and pharmacokinetic study protocol development process.
Enter results into LIMS database.
Generate reports and deliver of presentations to support submissions to FDA.
Establish quantitative, proprietary method for measurement of menstrual blood loss (now register with FDA).
Key activities include process chemistry development, synthesis of intermediates, compound purification and structure identification, and comprehensive scientific documentation.
Interpret metabolism data and review reports to support strategies forward thinking with a specialization in drug metabolism and metabolic enzymes.

Research fellow example responsibilities.

Collaborate with software engineers to automate identification of 15N- and 13C- labele LC-MS features.
Process and manage GIS databases to contribute towards research in human transportation behavior.
Manage investigator initiate and cooperative group correlative studies to identify biomarkers to ascertain tumor burden and clinical outcomes in lymphoma.
Analyze quantitative and qualitative data through statistical software SAS and SPSS.
Conduct sampling, PCR, data analysis and oral presentations of the work
Implement python and C++ codes for numerical computation of transport properties in models and materials.

Senior laboratory scientist vs research fellow skills

Common senior laboratory scientist skills

GMP, 9%
FDA, 9%
Cell Culture, 9%
Analytical Methods, 7%
R, 6%
Method Development, 6%

Common research fellow skills

Patients, 10%
Research Projects, 6%
Data Analysis, 5%
Cell Culture, 5%
Immunology, 4%
CRISPR, 4%

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Senior Laboratory Scientist
Senior Laboratory Scientist vs Research Fellow

Updated January 8, 2025

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