Life scientists study everything alive, from viruses and brain cells to whales, mushrooms, and entire forests. Some work in labs inventing new medicines or editing DNA, some work outdoors tracking wildlife, and some solve crimes, run clinical trials, or build the factories that make vaccines. There are paths for every level of schooling, from lab technician jobs right after high school to PhD researchers.
17 fields, 399 careers
Biotech & Pharmaceutical R&D(25): Discovering and developing new medicines, vaccines, and biological tools—from the first idea in a lab to a product ready for testing in…
Synthetic Biology & Bioengineering(13): Engineering life itself: designing DNA, proteins, and microbes that make medicines, foods, fuels, and materials, often with robots and AI.
Genetics & Genomics(26): Reading, understanding, and even rewriting DNA—to diagnose disease, design therapies, breed better crops and animals, and uncover our…
Cell Biology, Development & Anatomy(17): How cells, tissues, and bodies are built: stem cells, embryos, aging, cancer, mini-organs grown in a dish, and the human body itself.
Microbiology & Immunology(26): The invisible world of bacteria, viruses, and fungi—and the immune system that fights them. Think outbreaks, vaccines, food safety, and…
Neuroscience(21): The science of the brain and nervous system—how we think, feel, remember, and move, and how to fix it when it breaks.
Bioinformatics & Computational Biology(23): Where biology meets code: using computers, statistics, and AI to decode DNA, design drugs, and model living systems.
Clinical Research & Trials(25): Testing new drugs, vaccines, and devices safely in people—the careful, regulated step between a lab discovery and a medicine at the…
Biomanufacturing, Quality & Regulatory(25): Making medicines at scale and making sure they're safe: the factories, cleanrooms, quality checks, and FDA approvals behind every vaccine…
Epidemiology, Toxicology & Public Health Science(23): Protecting whole populations: tracking outbreaks like a detective, figuring out which chemicals are dangerous, and keeping air, water, and…
Forensic Science(26): Science in service of justice: analyzing DNA, fingerprints, bones, bugs, and chemicals to figure out what happened at a crime or death.
Ecology & Conservation Biology(27): Studying and protecting wild ecosystems on land—forests, prairies, wetlands, and the animals and plants that live there.
Marine & Freshwater Biology(25): Life in oceans, lakes, and rivers—from whales and coral reefs to deep-sea creatures, fish hatcheries, and toxic algae blooms.
Zoology, Evolution & Organismal Biology(25): Studying whole creatures—insects, birds, reptiles, apes, fossils—and the evolution that produced them, in the field and in natural history…
Plant & Fungal Biology(28): The green (and fungal) side of life—studying, breeding, protecting, and growing plants and mushrooms, from rare wildflowers to future crops.
Lab Operations & Research Support(21): The people and skills that keep science running: lab managers, animal care, instrument experts, glassblowers, and grant managers.
Science Communication, Policy & Business(23): Jobs that connect biology to the rest of the world—writing, drawing, teaching, selling, investing in, protecting, and making laws about…
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.