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Date: 04/18/2025

Microbiologists

Investigate the growth, structure, development, and other characteristics of microscopic organisms, such as bacteria, algae, or fungi. Includes medical microbiologists who study the relationship between organisms and disease or the effects of antibiotics on microorganisms.

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    Work Activities

    Work Activities

    • Investigate the relationship between organisms and disease, including the control of epidemics and the effects of antibiotics on microorganisms.
    • Isolate and maintain cultures of bacteria or other microorganisms in prescribed or developed media, controlling moisture, aeration, temperature, and nutrition.
    • Develop new products and procedures for sterilization, food and pharmaceutical supply preservation, or microbial contamination detection.
    • Study growth, structure, development, and general characteristics of bacteria and other microorganisms to understand their relationship to human, plant, and animal health.
    • Monitor and perform tests on water, food, and the environment to detect harmful microorganisms or to obtain information about sources of pollution, contamination, or infection.
    • Monitor and perform tests on water, food, and the environment to detect harmful microorganisms or to obtain information about sources of pollution, contamination, or infection.
    • Conduct chemical analyses of substances such as acids, alcohols, and enzymes.
    • Study the structure and function of human, animal, and plant tissues, cells, pathogens, and toxins.
    • Use a variety of specialized equipment, such as electron microscopes, gas and high-pressure liquid chromatographs, electrophoresis units, thermocyclers, fluorescence-activated cell sorters, and phosphorimagers.
    • Prepare technical reports and recommendations, based upon research outcomes.
    • Isolate and maintain cultures of bacteria or other microorganisms in prescribed or developed media, controlling moisture, aeration, temperature, and nutrition.
    • Examine physiological, morphological, and cultural characteristics, using microscope, to identify and classify microorganisms in human, water, and food specimens.
    • Examine physiological, morphological, and cultural characteristics, using microscope, to identify and classify microorganisms in human, water, and food specimens.
    • Observe action of microorganisms upon living tissues of plants, higher animals, and other microorganisms, and on dead organic matter.
    • Supervise biological technologists and technicians and other scientists.
    • Provide laboratory services for health departments, community environmental health programs, and physicians needing information for diagnosis and treatment.
    • Research use of bacteria and microorganisms to develop vitamins, antibiotics, amino acids, grain alcohol, sugars, and polymers.

    Skills

    • Speaking

      Talking to others.

    • Social Perceptiveness

      Understanding people's reactions.

    • Operation and Control

      Using equipment or systems.

    • Repairing

      Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.

    • Quality Control Analysis

      Testing how well a product or service works.

    • Systems Analysis

      Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.

    • Reading Comprehension

      Reading work-related information.

    • Service Orientation

      Looking for ways to help people.

    • Complex Problem Solving

      Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.

    • Operations Analysis

      Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.

    • Mathematics

      Using math to solve problems.

    • Negotiation

      Bringing people together to solve differences.

    • Active Learning

      Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.

    • Science

      Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.

    • Management of Personnel Resources

      Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.

    • Management of Material Resources

      Managing equipment and materials.

    • Equipment Maintenance

      Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.

    • Systems Evaluation

      Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.

    • Technology Design

      Making equipment and technology useful for customers.

    • Installation

      Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.

    • Operations Monitoring

      Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.

    • Troubleshooting

      Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.

    • Judgment and Decision Making

      Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.

    • Time Management

      Managing your time and the time of other people.

    • Management of Financial Resources

      Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.

    • Programming

      Writing computer programs.

    • Active Listening

      Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.

    • Monitoring

      Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.

    • Coordination

      Changing what is done based on other people's actions.

    • Persuasion

      Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.

    • Learning Strategies

      Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.

    • Equipment Selection

      Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.

    • Writing

      Writing things for co-workers or customers.

    • Instructing

      Teaching people how to do something.

    • Critical Thinking

      Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.

    WorkKeys®

    Applied Math
    5
    Workplace Documents
    5
    Graphic Literacy
    5

    Abilities

    • Oral Expression

      Communicating by speaking.

    • Auditory Attention

      Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.

    • Memorization

      Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.

    • Speed of Closure

      Quickly knowing what you are looking at.

    • Arm-Hand Steadiness

      Keeping your arm or hand steady.

    • Problem Sensitivity

      Noticing when problems happen.

    • Mathematical Reasoning

      Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.

    • Finger Dexterity

      Putting together small parts with your fingers.

    • Gross Body Coordination

      Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.

    • Selective Attention

      Paying attention to something without being distracted.

    • Dynamic Strength

      Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.

    • Wrist-Finger Speed

      Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.

    • Peripheral Vision

      Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.

    • Speech Recognition

      Recognizing spoken words.

    • Speech Clarity

      Speaking clearly.

    • Explosive Strength

      Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.

    • Oral Comprehension

      Listening and understanding what people say.

    • Time Sharing

      Doing two or more things at the same time.

    • Gross Body Equilibrium

      Keeping your balance or staying upright.

    • Stamina

      Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.

    • Speed of Limb Movement

      Quickly moving your arms and legs.

    • Deductive Reasoning

      Using rules to solve problems.

    • Information Ordering

      Ordering or arranging things.

    • Written Expression

      Communicating by writing.

    • Flexibility of Closure

      Seeing hidden patterns.

    • Originality

      Creating new and original ideas.

    • Glare Sensitivity

      Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.

    • Sound Localization

      Noticing the direction that a sound came from.

    • Reaction Time

      Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.

    • Static Strength

      Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.

    • Dynamic Flexibility

      Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

    • Spatial Orientation

      Knowing where things are around you.

    • Night Vision

      Seeing at night or under low light.

    • Control Precision

      Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.

    • Rate Control

      Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.

    • Near Vision

      Seeing details up close.

    • Fluency of Ideas

      Coming up with lots of ideas.

    • Inductive Reasoning

      Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.

    • Number Facility

      Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.

    • Written Comprehension

      Reading and understanding what is written.

    • Far Vision

      Seeing details that are far away.

    • Response Orientation

      Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.

    • Visual Color Discrimination

      Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.

    • Multilimb Coordination

      Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.

    • Perceptual Speed

      Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.

    • Trunk Strength

      Using your lower back and stomach.

    • Category Flexibility

      Grouping things in different ways.

    • Extent Flexibility

      Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.

    • Depth Perception

      Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.

    • Visualization

      Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.

    • Manual Dexterity

      Holding or moving items with your hands.

    • Hearing Sensitivity

      Telling the difference between sounds.

    Knowledge

    • Psychology

      Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.

    • Philosophy and Theology

      Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.

    • Building and Construction

      Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.

    • Fine Arts

      Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.

    • Therapy and Counseling

      Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.

    • Personnel and Human Resources

      Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.

    • Administrative

      Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.

    • Engineering and Technology

      Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.

    • Sociology and Anthropology

      Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.

    • Geography

      Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.

    • Public Safety and Security

      Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.

    • Telecommunications

      Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.

    • Mechanical

      Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.

    • Mathematics

      Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

    • Administration and Management

      Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

    • Economics and Accounting

      Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.

    • Sales and Marketing

      Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

    • Food Production

      Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.

    • Communications and Media

      Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.

    • Chemistry

      Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.

    • Customer and Personal Service

      Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

    • Design

      Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.

    • English Language

      Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

    • Biology

      Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.

    • Law and Government

      Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.

    • Computers and Electronics

      Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

    • Transportation

      Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.

    • Foreign Language

      Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.

    • Physics

      Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.

    • Medicine and Dentistry

      Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.

    • History and Archeology

      Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.

    • Production and Processing

      Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.

    • Education and Training

      Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

    Career Video

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    Pay

    • Ohio Annual Salary 80510/yr
    • Typical Salary
    • Ohio Hourly Wage 38.71/hr
    • Typical Hourly Wage

    Ohio Employment Trends

    • Currently Employed 710
    • Yearly Projected Openings 50

    Typical Education

    Personality

    Investigative: People interested in this work like activities that include ideas, thinking, and figuring things out.They do well at jobs that need:
    • Attention to Detail
    • Dependability
    • Integrity
    • Analytical Thinking
    • Initiative
    • Adaptability/Flexibility

    Tools

    • Air samplers or collectors
    • Anaerobic chamber
    • Analytical balances
    • Automated cover slipping equipment
    • Automated microscope stages
    • Benchtop centrifuges
    • Binocular light compound microscopes
    • Blotting or transfer apparatus
    • Calorimeters
    • Circulating baths
    • Conductivity meters
    • Counters
    • Cryogenic or liquid nitrogen freezers
    • Culture tubes
    • Darkfield microscopes
    • Decontamination shower
    • Deoxyribonucleic sequence analyzers
    • Desktop computers
    • Developing tanks
    • Digital cameras
    • Dissolved oxygen meters
    • Dropping pipettes
    • Dry baths or heating blocks
    • Dry heat or hot air sterilizers
    • Dry wall single chamber carbon dioxide incubators
    • Drying cabinets or ovens
    • Electronic counters
    • Electronic encyclopedias
    • Electronic multichannel pipetters
    • Electronic toploading balances
    • Electroporation cuvettes
    • Eyewashers or eye wash stations
    • Fire extinguishers
    • Fluorescent microscopes
    • Forced air or mechanical convection general purpose incubators
    • Freeze dryers or lyopholizers
    • French pressure cells
    • Gas burners
    • Gas chromatographs
    • Gas generators
    • Gel boxes
    • Gel documentation systems
    • General purpose refrigerators or refrigerator freezers
    • General purpose trays
    • HEPA filtered enclosures
    • High pressure liquid chromatograph chromatography
    • Homogenizers
    • Hybridization ovens or incubators
    • Impedance meters
    • Infra red or ultra violet absorption analyzers
    • Infrared spectrometers
    • Inverted microscopes
    • Laboratory adapters or connectors or fittings
    • Laboratory balances
    • Laboratory beakers
    • Laboratory flasks
    • Laboratory funnels
    • Laboratory graduated cylinders
    • Laboratory heat exchange condensers
    • Laboratory hotplates
    • Laboratory incubator thermometers
    • Laboratory membrane filters
    • Laboratory mixers
    • Laboratory staining dishes or jars
    • Laboratory vacuum pumps
    • Laboratory washing machines
    • Laminar flow cabinets or stations
    • Laser printers
    • Lasers
    • Liquid chromatographs
    • Magnetic stirrers
    • Manual or electronic hematology differential cell counters
    • Mass spectrometers
    • Microbiology analyzers
    • Microbiology fermentation equipment
    • Microbiology inoculation loops or needles
    • Microbiology slide stainers
    • Microcentrifuges
    • Microplate readers
    • Microscope objectives
    • Microscope slides
    • Multipurpose or general test tubes
    • Notebook computers
    • Orbital shaking water baths
    • Osmometers
    • Peristaltic pumps
    • Personal computers
    • Petri plates or dishes
    • Photo attachments for microscopes
    • Pipette pumps
    • Pipetter inserts or accessories
    • Protective coats
    • Protective gloves
    • Protective hood
    • Refrigerated baths
    • Refrigerated benchtop centrifuges
    • Respirators
    • Robotic or automated liquid handling systems
    • Rotating shakers
    • Safety glasses
    • Safety shoes
    • Scanning electron microscopes
    • Shaking incubators
    • Specialty plates for bacteria
    • Specimen collection container
    • Spectrometers
    • Spectrophotometers
    • Spirit burners
    • Steam autoclaves or sterilizers
    • Stereo or dissecting light microscopes
    • Temperature cycling chambers or thermal cyclers
    • Test tube racks
    • Tissue culture flasks
    • Transilluminators
    • Transmission electron microscopes
    • Ultra cold or ultralow upright cabinets or freezers
    • Ultra pure water systems
    • Ultracentrifuges
    • Ultrasonic disintegrators
    • Ultraviolet UV lamps
    • Vortex mixers
    • X ray diffraction equipment
    • pH meters

    Technology

    • Analytical or scientific software
    • Data base user interface and query software
    • Electronic mail software
    • Enterprise resource planning ERP software
    • Information retrieval or search software
    • Internet browser software
    • Medical software
    • Office suite software
    • Operating system software
    • Presentation software
    • Spreadsheet software
    • Word processing software

    Tags

    • InDemand occupations are considered a priority by the state of Ohio.

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