Molecular Biologist

As a Molecular Biologist, you spend your days in a laboratory working with microscopes, test tubes, machines, and computers. You design experiments to answer specific questions about how living things work - maybe: how does this protein fold? What does this gene do? Can we edit this DNA to fix a disease? You run the experiment, collect the results, and use maths and software to work out what they mean.

You work in hospitals, universities, or biotechnology companies, often as part of a team with other scientists. You need to be precise - one mistake in how you prepare a sample or measure a result can waste weeks of work. But you also need to be curious and creative, to think of new ways to test an idea. You read lots of scientific papers, discuss findings with colleagues, and write up your results so other scientists can learn from what you have found. The work is detailed but can lead to breakthroughs that help treat disease or improve people's lives.