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Senior scientist, biology vs associate scientist

The differences between senior scientists, biology and associate scientists 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 scientist, biology and an associate scientist. Additionally, a senior scientist, biology has an average salary of $88,965, which is higher than the $76,461 average annual salary of an associate scientist.

The top three skills for a senior scientist, biology include data analysis, cell biology and next-generation sequencing. The most important skills for an associate scientist are chemistry, patients, and cell culture.

Senior scientist, biology vs associate scientist overview

Senior Scientist, BiologyAssociate Scientist
Yearly salary$88,965$76,461
Hourly rate$42.77$36.76
Growth rate17%17%
Number of jobs50,06154,950
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 57%Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Average age4141
Years of experience44

What does a senior scientist, biology do?

A senior biology scientist is responsible for studying how living organisms relate to the environment. Duties and responsibilities include supporting and participating in project management and research and development meetings, conducting tissue culture and cell line generation, and performing binding assays to examine the biological activities of protein therapeutics. In addition, you will be participating in the organic synthesis of nucleotide drug and perform reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction procedure for gene expression and amplification.

What does an associate scientist do?

An Associate Scientist assists in various experiments and research, working under the direction of a lead scientist. Their specialties may include biological life sciences, geo-science, atmospheric physics, and computing.

Senior scientist, biology vs associate scientist salary

Senior scientists, biology and associate scientists have different pay scales, as shown below.

Senior Scientist, BiologyAssociate Scientist
Average salary$88,965$76,461
Salary rangeBetween $56,000 And $139,000Between $53,000 And $109,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaCalifornia
Best paying companyTheranosPhillips 66
Best paying industryPharmaceuticalManufacturing

Differences between senior scientist, biology and associate scientist education

There are a few differences between a senior scientist, biology and an associate scientist in terms of educational background:

Senior Scientist, BiologyAssociate Scientist
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 57%Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Most common majorBiologyBiology
Most common collegeUniversity of Southern CaliforniaUniversity of Southern California

Senior scientist, biology vs associate scientist demographics

Here are the differences between senior scientists, biology' and associate scientists' demographics:

Senior Scientist, BiologyAssociate Scientist
Average age4141
Gender ratioMale, 49.7% Female, 50.3%Male, 48.6% Female, 51.4%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 6.4% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.7% Asian, 26.3% White, 53.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%Black or African American, 6.4% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.7% Asian, 26.3% White, 53.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage8%8%

Differences between senior scientist, biology and associate scientist duties and responsibilities

Senior scientist, biology example responsibilities.

  • Manage study protocols and study conduct, intimately involve in the toxicology and pharmacokinetic study protocol development process.
  • Contribute to a cancer cell line profiling effort.
  • Review documentation, write research reports and authore FDA submissions.
  • Cloned and express zebrafish DNA repair genes by PCR; design PCR primers.
  • Supervise transfer of methodology from GLP to GMP environment and between partner/CRO sites.
  • Investigate plant-microbe interactions using protein profiling experiments.
  • Show more

Associate scientist example responsibilities.

  • Manage study protocols and study conduct, intimately involve in the toxicology and pharmacokinetic study protocol development process.
  • Generate crispr knockout STAT1, STAT3 and STAT1 & 3double knockout cell lines.
  • Use CRISPR technology to create target knockout cell line.
  • Direct ISO 9000 4.10 team registration activities and perform internal audits.
  • Prepare stock reagents and buffers for use in manufacturing assay kits.
  • Confirm the quality of product meet specifications according to cGMP and ICH guidelines.
  • Show more

Senior scientist, biology vs associate scientist skills

Common senior scientist, biology skills
  • Data Analysis, 9%
  • Cell Biology, 9%
  • Next-Generation Sequencing, 6%
  • Cell-Based Assays, 5%
  • RNA, 5%
  • CMC, 4%
Common associate scientist skills
  • Chemistry, 9%
  • Patients, 8%
  • Cell Culture, 5%
  • Data Analysis, 5%
  • GMP, 4%
  • Lab Equipment, 3%

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