Upstream biomanufacturing technician vs research technician

The differences between upstream biomanufacturing technicians and research technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both an upstream biomanufacturing technician and a research technician. Additionally, an upstream biomanufacturing technician has an average salary of $50,881, which is higher than the $43,034 average annual salary of a research technician.

The top three skills for an upstream biomanufacturing technician include cell culture, harvest and CIP. The most important skills for a research technician are patients, data collection, and cell culture.

Upstream biomanufacturing technician vs research technician overview

	Upstream Biomanufacturing Technician	Research Technician
Yearly salary	$50,881	$43,034
Hourly rate	$24.46	$20.69
Growth rate	9%	9%
Number of jobs	7,860	64,786
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 73%	Bachelor's Degree, 74%
Average age	40	40
Years of experience	4	4

Upstream biomanufacturing technician vs research technician salary

Upstream biomanufacturing technicians and research technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Upstream Biomanufacturing Technician	Research Technician
Average salary	$50,881	$43,034
Salary range	Between $35,000 And $73,000	Between $31,000 And $59,000
Highest paying City	-	Pasadena, CA
Highest paying state	-	Connecticut
Best paying company	-	GCP Applied Technologies
Best paying industry	-	Manufacturing

Differences between upstream biomanufacturing technician and research technician education

There are a few differences between an upstream biomanufacturing technician and a research technician in terms of educational background:

	Upstream Biomanufacturing Technician	Research Technician
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 73%	Bachelor's Degree, 74%
Most common major	Biology	Biology
Most common college	Harvard University	Cornell University

Upstream biomanufacturing technician vs research technician demographics

Here are the differences between upstream biomanufacturing technicians' and research technicians' demographics:

	Upstream Biomanufacturing Technician	Research Technician
Average age	40	40
Gender ratio	Male, 50.0% Female, 50.0%	Male, 49.3% Female, 50.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.1% Unknown, 5.9% Hispanic or Latino, 10.6% Asian, 13.5% White, 58.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 2.2%	Black or African American, 12.0% Unknown, 6.1% Hispanic or Latino, 13.1% Asian, 16.5% White, 49.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 2.4%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between upstream biomanufacturing technician and research technician duties and responsibilities

Upstream biomanufacturing technician example responsibilities.

Assist in managing technical and regulatory site visits to the laboratory and interface with QA and RA on all vendor/regulatory audits.
Assist senior level manufacturing technicians within a cGMP facility in the fermentation and harvest of proprietary biopharmaceuticals for purification and packaging.
Participate in regulatory inspections and FDA tours.

Research technician example responsibilities.

Manage a DNA database and work with researchers to retrieve or send out samples and results.
Lead experiments to assess survivor behavior differences in zebrafish contaminate with dietary mercury.
Prepare reagents for use in processing samples, DNA and RNA extractions, and QC.
Investigate and validate various acute phase protein assays as OA biomarkers in rodent animal models.
Perform DNA extraction and analysis for the purpose of identifying bacterial strand for waste stream characterization.
Extend course knowledge of CRISPR to experiment.

Upstream biomanufacturing technician vs research technician skills

Common upstream biomanufacturing technician skills

Cell Culture, 44%
Harvest, 24%
CIP, 21%
Clean Rooms, 7%
Bioreactors, 5%

Common research technician skills

Patients, 9%
Data Collection, 6%
Cell Culture, 5%
Laboratory Equipment, 5%
Research Projects, 4%
Lab Equipment, 3%

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Upstream Biomanufacturing Technician
Upstream Biomanufacturing Technician vs Research Technician

Updated January 8, 2025

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