A Future in Genetic Engineering - (Nov/24/2008 )
I am currently in my senior year in High School and have difficulty in deciding on a major. Biomedical Engineering appears to be a quite interesting field, but I have received several answers that conflict with one another when it comes to my career. I would like to know if it is possible to work in the field of Genetic Engineering, a discipline no colleges nearby offers, with a degree in Biomedical Engineering, or would a degree in a field such as Molecular Biology be more beneficial? I was told that I would have many more opportunities for jobs, including in Genetic Engineering, with a degree in Bionedical Engineering. Is there any truth to that?
my understanding of "biomedical engineering" is that it is involved in the design, construction and repair of instrumentation. at least, that is what our biomedical engineering department was charged with (until it evolved into our "information services" department).
genetic engineering, on the other hand, is involved in manipulation (design, construction and repair?) of the genome. it is based on genetics, biochemistry and molecular biology.
you have to determine if you are into hardware or wetware to decide which is for you.
To expand on what mdfenko said, these are really two very different fields that don't really overlap that much. When you go to apply for a job, the company will be looking for the person that best meets their qualifications. You will be competing with others who have the right degree and probably at least some experience. If you apply for a biomedical engineering job with a degree in molecular biology you would be competing with those who have a degree in biomedical engineering. Your chances of getting the job before them would be slim to none. I think that your best bet is to really look at the types of companies that would be hiring people with those degrees, see what products they make, and see if designing those types of things would interest you. For instance, would you be more interested in making heart valve devices, or in designing new cancer treatments? In the case of genetic engineering, i.e. molecular biology, you should also consider whether a job in academia, such as being a professor or working in a research lab would interest you as this is another option. You might also want to consider how much it matters to you where you live. It is rare to find a good deal of biotech companies in smaller cities. These companies tend to be located in the large east or west coast cities (think San Francisco, Boston, New York). If living in these places doesn't appeal to you then you might want to reconsider your options because it would be much harder to find a job in say Des moines,Iowa than in Boston.
Hope this helps,
smu
Thank you very much for the help. I have a further question.
How does microbiology tie into genetic engineering? Would my chances to be hired as a genetic engineering researcher be low with a degree in microbiology, or are the chances equivalent to someone with a molecular biology degree?
It seems like you are very interested in genetic manipulation. Most life science degrees will offer a decent background for a grad school in something related to genetic manipulation. However, I recommend you to take Biochemistry or Molecular Biology if you are serious about going to genetic manipulation.
As a microbiologist, you may end up manipulating some microorganism genome (genetic transformation, vector construction, etc) and your career opportunities are quite broad (or at least I like to think that!) in case you change your mind about your research interest. Most microbiologist research interest are in health, environment or food fields.
In some cases, biochemists, microbiologists and molecular biologists end up working in similar research areas.
Do you like chemistry?
Chemistry also interests me.
Does microbiology strictly focus only on the research of unicellular organism, or does it extend beyond that? It appears to be a very interesting field, considering the wide variety of microscopic life.
Does microbiology strictly focus only on the research of unicellular organism, or does it extend beyond that? It appears to be a very interesting field, considering the wide variety of microscopic life.
Ohhhh.... another poor victim about to fall in microbe's web!!
I asked you about chemistry because if you like chemistry a lot, a degree in biochemistry or molecular biology might be appealing as well.
As for microbiology, most microbiologist only deal with unicellular organism. But think about this: microbes are everywhere, they do harm and good (in every aspect, health, food, environment, industrial processes, etc). If you think about your body, we have more bacteria (in terms of numbers) than our own cells!! (as a good microbiologist said once: we are more them than we are us. We are big talking and walking incubators!)
If your future job is a factor you are also considering, check job postings in your city (or other cities you may be interested in living at) and take a look of what employers are looking for. Microbiologist are welcome in most biotechnology places (depending on the position, of course), but some companies are more interested in biochemists, chemists, molecular biologists or something similar. And there is the academia, and there you end up being a professor no matter what your field is as long as you can get a grant.
I think I will go with microbiology. Such a wide variety of microscopic life is simply fascinating.
Thanks alot for the answers.
It's good that you're narrowing your choices down. I think that your career opportunities would be much broader with a degree in microbiology. But I also think that you shouldn't get too attached to any one field at this point. If you simply declare a major in biology it will leave you with enough opportunity to explore a number of different areas while you take your core classes. After your second year, you can get more focused on a specific area. The important thing is to do as much career exploration as possible, which means that you should try to find a lab to work in if possible and to shadow people whose career you might be interested in. Sometimes it's hard to convince a professor to take you into their lab when you don't have any coursework completed yet, but you can ask if you can shadow someone in order to get an idea of what it's like. Another piece of advice that I give to new college students - DON'T SKIP YOUR CLASSES!!!
You might be the studious type and not need this advice, but I'm giving it to you anyway because I can't tell you how important it is. This comes from my own experience as a student and as a teaching assistant. It's those students who skip classes that do poorly on tests. I worked for a professor once who claimed that he had given enough free answers to test questions that anyone could have gotten a passing grade in his class if they had simply attended every class session.
Ok, I've had my say now. Good luck to you, and let us know how things are going for you.
cheers,
smu
hmmm if you know you like genetics, I think microbiology's a better place to start than biology; however it depends on your university. a degree in biology where I went to uni was essentially pre-med with a lot of zoology and chemistry. microbiology encompassed genetics as well, there was a great deal of overlap between microbiology and molecular biology
I think if you pick microbiology or molecular biology (or both 
and take elective courses based on the more specific interests you'll develop in your first year or so, you'll be fine when you come out
(note: I double-majored in microbiology / molecular biology and biochemistry. I have worked as a genetic engineer; I have worked as a public health microbiologist; I have worked as a molecular biologist (protein work and DNA/RNA). now I do cancer research and am more or less an immunologist / cellular biologist. my background has served me well in each of these professions, even though they have all been very different)
the important thing is to get your foundation. the hard part is narrowing it down later....so many interesting questions to answer!