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Senior scientist, biology vs research scientist

The differences between senior scientists, biology and research 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 a research scientist. Additionally, a research scientist has an average salary of $89,998, which is higher than the $88,965 average annual salary of a senior scientist, biology.

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

Senior scientist, biology vs research scientist overview

Senior Scientist, BiologyResearch Scientist
Yearly salary$88,965$89,998
Hourly rate$42.77$43.27
Growth rate17%17%
Number of jobs50,06193,013
Job satisfaction-3
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 57%Bachelor's Degree, 52%
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 a research scientist do?

The job of research scientists is to design, undertake, and analyze information from experiments, trials, and laboratory-based investigations. They usually perform experiments in different areas, including medical research, pharmacology, and geoscience. They have varied duties and responsibilities that include planning and carrying out experiments, conducting fieldwork, and overseeing junior staff members like the technicians. They are typically working for a government laboratory, an environmental agency, and other organizations. Many of these scientists also work in teams and support staff.

Senior scientist, biology vs research scientist salary

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

Senior Scientist, BiologyResearch Scientist
Average salary$88,965$89,998
Salary rangeBetween $56,000 And $139,000Between $58,000 And $137,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CAMenlo Park, CA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaCalifornia
Best paying companyTheranosLyft
Best paying industryPharmaceutical-

Differences between senior scientist, biology and research scientist education

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

Senior Scientist, BiologyResearch Scientist
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 57%Bachelor's Degree, 52%
Most common majorBiologyChemistry
Most common collegeUniversity of Southern CaliforniaDuke University

Senior scientist, biology vs research scientist demographics

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

Senior Scientist, BiologyResearch Scientist
Average age4141
Gender ratioMale, 49.7% Female, 50.3%Male, 62.5% Female, 37.5%
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, 6.2% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 29.6% White, 50.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage8%8%

Differences between senior scientist, biology and research 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

Research scientist example responsibilities.

  • Manage the development of innovative visualization and concept mapping of contest environment analysis challenges and analyst skill sets.
  • Manage sample inventory via in-house laboratory information management system (LIMS) and implement additional systems for sample and chemical organization.
  • Used real-time PCR and DNA sequencing to troubleshoot and validate SNP base and gene expression assays.
  • Prepare clear technical presentations to NIH department heads in annual seminars.
  • Analyze chromatin dynamics during primordial germ cell specification with a CRISPR mouse model.
  • Identify impurities in final drug by LCMS and reject impurities with ethanol/water swish.
  • Show more

Senior scientist, biology vs research 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 research scientist skills
  • Python, 11%
  • Data Analysis, 6%
  • Patients, 6%
  • C++, 6%
  • Research Projects, 6%
  • Chemistry, 5%

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