Also called: LAL Production Technician, Horseshoe Crab Blood Collection Technician
Collects blue blood from horseshoe crabs, which is turned into a test that checks every vaccine and IV drug for dangerous bacterial toxins.
Receives crabs caught off the Atlantic coast, cleans their shells and gently draws part of their bright blue blood through a needle. The crabs go back to the sea within a day or two, while the blood is processed into LAL, a chemical that clots when bacterial toxins are present. Drug makers worldwide rely on it.
Estimate; work is seasonal, mostly spring and summer.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
High school diploma, about 0.5 years after high school. High school or a biology associate degree; trained on the job in sterile technique.
Ways in: On-the-job training, 2-year college. Training cost: Get paid while you train.
Majors to look at: Biology, Marine Biology.
Growing slowly. A synthetic replacement test is slowly being adopted.
Medium risk in 5 years, high in 10. Lab-made replacement tests (recombinant factor C) are gaining approval, so crab-bleeding jobs may shrink.
Age 18+. One way to start: Apply for seasonal lab or bleeding technician jobs at labs like Charles River or Associates of Cape Cod
Classes: Biology, Chemistry, Marine science.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.