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What does a biomedical scientist do?

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What is a Biomedical Scientist?

Biomedical scientists uses scientific methods to investigate biological processes and diseases that affect humans and animals. They conduct experiments, analyze data, and interpret findings to improve our understanding of diseases and develop new treatments and cures. They also ensure the safety and efficacy of drugs and medical devices through clinical trials and regulatory processes.

The work of biomedical scientists covers a wide range of areas, including genetics, microbiology, immunology, and biochemistry. Various tools and techniques are used to study living organisms at the molecular and cellular levels, such as microscopy, DNA sequencing, and protein analysis. Biomedical scientists often collaborate with other healthcare professionals, such as physicians and nurses, to develop new diagnostics and treatments for diseases.

What does a Biomedical Scientist do?

The work of biomedical scientists has a profound impact on human health and has contributed to the development of numerous life-saving medical advances.

Duties and Responsibilities The duties and responsibilities of a biomedical scientist vary depending on their area of specialization and the specific role they play within their organization. However, some common responsibilities of biomedical scientists include:

• Conducting Research: Biomedical scientists design and conduct experiments to investigate biological processes and diseases. They use various laboratory techniques, including microscopy, DNA sequencing, and protein analysis, to study living organisms at the molecular and cellular levels. They collect and analyze data, interpret findings, and communicate results to other scientists and healthcare professionals.
• Developing New Treatments: Biomedical scientists work to develop new drugs, therapies, and medical devices to treat diseases. They conduct preclinical studies to test the safety and efficacy of new treatments, and they work with clinicians to design and conduct clinical trials to evaluate the effectiveness of new treatments in humans.
• Analyzing Samples: Biomedical scientists analyze biological samples, such as blood, tissue, and urine, to diagnose diseases and monitor treatment. They use laboratory techniques to detect and quantify biomarkers, such as proteins and DNA, that are associated with specific diseases.
• Ensuring Quality Control: Biomedical scientists are responsible for ensuring the quality and accuracy of laboratory tests and procedures. They follow established protocols and standard operating procedures, maintain laboratory equipment, and monitor laboratory safety to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.
• Managing Laboratory Operations: Biomedical scientists may be responsible for managing laboratory operations, including supervising staff, developing and implementing laboratory policies and procedures, and ensuring that laboratory equipment is properly maintained and calibrated.
• Collaborating with Other Healthcare Professionals: Biomedical scientists collaborate with other healthcare professionals, including physicians, nurses, and pharmacists, to develop and implement treatment plans for patients. They communicate laboratory results and provide expert advice on the interpretation of test results.
• Teaching and Mentoring: Biomedical scientists may be responsible for teaching and mentoring students and junior researchers. They may develop and deliver lectures, supervise laboratory activities, and provide guidance and mentorship to students and trainees.

Types of Biomedical Scientists There are several different types of biomedical scientists, each with their own area of specialization and focus. Here are some examples of different types of biomedical scientists and what they do:

• Microbiologists : Microbiologists study microorganisms, including bacteria, viruses, and fungi. They investigate how these organisms cause disease, develop new treatments to combat infections, and develop new diagnostic tests to identify infectious agents.
• Immunologists : Immunologists study the immune system and its role in fighting disease. They investigate how the immune system responds to infectious agents, cancer cells, and other foreign substances, and they develop new treatments that harness the immune system to fight disease.
• Geneticists : Geneticists study genes and their role in disease. They investigate the genetic basis of diseases, such as cancer, and develop new diagnostic tests and treatments that target specific genetic mutations.
• Biochemists : Biochemists study the chemical processes that occur in living organisms. They investigate how cells and tissues produce and use energy, and they develop new drugs and therapies that target specific metabolic pathways.
• Toxicologists : Toxicologists study the effects of toxic substances on the body. They investigate how chemicals, pollutants, and other environmental factors can cause disease, and they develop strategies to prevent and mitigate the harmful effects of toxic exposures.
• Pharmacologists: Pharmacologists study the effects of drugs on the body. They investigate how drugs interact with cells and tissues, and they develop new drugs and therapies to treat disease.
• Medical Laboratory Scientists: Medical laboratory scientists, also known as clinical laboratory scientists, perform laboratory tests on patient samples to diagnose diseases and monitor treatment. They analyze blood, urine, tissue, and other samples using various laboratory techniques and instruments.

What is the workplace of a Biomedical Scientist like?

Biomedical scientists work in diverse settings, contributing to advancements in medical research, healthcare, and the understanding of diseases. The workplace of a biomedical scientist can vary based on their specific role, specialization, and the nature of their work.

Academic and Research Institutions: Many biomedical scientists are employed in universities, medical schools, and research institutions. In these settings, they conduct cutting-edge research, lead laboratory teams, and contribute to scientific discoveries. Academic biomedical scientists often split their time between conducting research, teaching students, and publishing their findings in scientific journals.

Hospitals and Healthcare Settings: Biomedical scientists play a crucial role in healthcare, especially in clinical laboratories and diagnostic facilities. They may be involved in analyzing patient samples, conducting medical tests, and interpreting results to assist in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Biomedical scientists working in hospitals collaborate with clinicians and healthcare professionals to ensure accurate and timely diagnostic information.

Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Companies: The biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries employ biomedical scientists to drive innovation in drug discovery, development, and testing. In these settings, scientists work on designing experiments, conducting preclinical and clinical trials, and developing new therapeutic interventions. Biomedical scientists may also be involved in quality control, ensuring the safety and efficacy of pharmaceutical products.

Government Agencies and Public Health Organizations: Biomedical scientists can work for government agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), or the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In these roles, they contribute to public health research, policy development, and the regulation of healthcare products.

Nonprofit Research Organizations: Nonprofit organizations dedicated to medical research and public health also employ biomedical scientists. These organizations focus on specific diseases or health issues and work towards finding solutions, advancing knowledge, and advocating for improved healthcare practices.

Private Research Foundations: Biomedical scientists may work for private research foundations that fund and conduct medical research. These foundations often collaborate with academic institutions and industry partners to support innovative research projects with the potential to impact human health.

Collaborative and Interdisciplinary Teams: Biomedical scientists frequently collaborate with professionals from various disciplines, including bioinformaticians, clinicians, engineers, and statisticians. Interdisciplinary collaboration is common, especially in research projects that require a multifaceted approach to address complex health challenges.

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Biomedical scientists use scientific research to improve human health. They design studies to test and develop new treatment plans, analyze medical data to investigate pathogens and chronic diseases, and develop social programs that can improve outcomes in population health. Biomedical science is the science of medicine and to practice it, biomedical scientists need to be highly educated and supremely dedicated.

While the old school way of thinking used to prescribe biomedical scientists a linear pathway through school to positions in academic research, that’s not necessarily still the case. Between 2005 and 2009, some 100,000 doctoral degrees were awarded but only 16,000 new professor positions were created, according to a study published by the National Institutes of Health. But that apparent oversupply isn’t as grim as it looks: data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS 2023) projected a 10 percent increase in jobs for medical scientists nationally from 2022 to 2032.

Working in several sectors ranging from research to academia, biomedical scientists can choose to pursue work in faster-paced fields of industry or university-based laboratories. But everything comes with tradeoffs. Being under the direction of a specific corporate agenda, biomedical scientists who work as industry researchers generally have less intellectual freedom than their academic counterparts but are often paid higher salaries. On the other hand, biomedical scientists who work in academia may have intellectual freedom but can be constrained by grant funding, publication quotas, and teaching requirements.

Some biomedical scientists put themselves in a different category altogether by pursuing a medical degree alongside their research education, opening up the possibility of private practice and physician-related duties. It’s also becoming more common for biomedical scientists to seek employment in nontraditional roles: someone educated as a biomedical scientist may now apply their knowledge in fields like consulting, public policy, and patent law.

On the whole, occupations in biomedical science are growing and there are multiple pathways to pursue this career. The type of education will influence which biomedical science sector a professional will end up in. Read this step-by-step guide to becoming a biomedical scientist to plan for all possible options.

Step-By-Step Guide to Becoming a Biomedical Scientist

Step 1a: earn a bachelor’s degree (four years).

After graduating from high school, an aspiring biomedical scientist needs to earn a bachelor’s degree. At this stage, practically any major related to the life sciences is suitable: biology, chemistry, or biomedical engineering are all possibilities. Admissions requirements for undergraduate programs vary from school to school but generally include some combination of the following: a competitive high school GPA (3.0 or greater); SAT and/or ACT scores; letters of recommendation, and a personal statement.

Arizona State University

Arizona State University offers a BS in biological sciences with a concentration in biomedical sciences. The curriculum is designed for students who wish to pursue either medical school or biomedical research careers in academic, clinical, and industry settings. The program can be completed either online or on-campus.

Core classes cover conceptual approaches to biology; statistics for biosciences; advanced principles of biochemistry; developmental biology; genetics; and organic chemistry. Students may also apply for an accelerated program, which allows them to complete both a BS and MS in five years instead of six. The standard four-year BS program consists of 120 credit-hours.

Upon successfully completing the program, graduates can take up roles such as biological scientists, clinical trial managers, laboratory technologists, molecular biologists, pharmacists, and physician assistants.

• Location: Tempe, AZ
• Accreditation: Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
• Expected Time to Completion: 48 months
• Estimated Tuition: $994 per credit

University of Iowa

The University of Iowa has a selective and challenging BS in biomedical sciences. As a collaboration between the biochemistry, biology, Immunology, chemistry, and microbiology departments, the program is designed to prepare students for the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) and biomedical research at the graduate level and beyond.

This program requires a minimum of 120 credit-hours, including at least 77 to 83 credits of work for the biomedical science major. The curriculum covers biology; biochemistry; microbiology; physics; human physiology; psychology; and statistics. Students are also encouraged to participate in the Iowa Center for Research by Undergraduates (ICRU) and to apply for research scholarships.

• Location: Iowa City, Iowa
• Accreditation: The Higher Learning Commission
• Estimated Tuition: Iowa residents ($10,964); non-residents ($32,927)

Step 1b: Gain Early Work and Research Experience (Optional, Timeline Varies)

While earning a bachelor’s degree, many aspiring biomedical scientists gain some early work and research experience. While it’s not always a degree requirement, internships and laboratory assistantships can dramatically boost one’s applied skills and one’s academic applications.

Working in a research capacity under the supervision of dedicated biomedical scientists can be a rich education in and of itself and it can also help direct one’s education towards a specific niche of biomedical science.

Step 2: Earn a Master’s Degree (Optional, One to Three Years)

After earning their bachelor’s degree, some aspiring biomedical scientists opt to earn a master’s degree. While it’s not a requirement to practice biomedical science, a master’s degree can allow graduates to sharpen their expertise and enhance their applications for PhD or dual-degree programs. Furthermore, it’s possible at this stage to pair one’s master’s degree with a master’s in another field (e.g., public health, business administration) to widen one’s career options down the road.

Admissions requirements for biomedical science master’s programs vary from school to school but generally include some combination of the following: a competitive undergraduate GPA (3.0 or greater); MCAT and/or GRE scores; letters of recommendation; work and/or research experience; and a personal statement.

Tufts University

Tufts University offers a master’s of science in biomedical science (MBS) for pre-professional students who are looking to strengthen their academic credentials before applying to MD and PhD programs. The curriculum closely follows that of a first-year medical school student, with key courses in the following areas: anatomy, biochemistry, cell biology, medical genetics, microbiology, pathology, and pharmacology.

Tufts also allows students to get a dual degree, pairing the MBS with a master of business administration (MBA) or master of public health (MPH), which can significantly boost one’s competitiveness in tangential roles and sectors post-graduation. The baseline MBS program consists of 30 to 33 credits.

• Location: Boston, MA
• Accreditation: New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC)
• Expected Time to Completion: 12 months
• Estimated Tuition: $58,560 per year

Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami

The Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami offers an intensive master of science in biomedical science (MiBS) degree that is designed to be completed in under a year.

The core curriculum covers coursework in areas such as biochemistry for the biosciences; laboratory research or physician shadowing; molecular biology for the biosciences; gross anatomy & histology; advanced molecular and cell biology; cell physiology; and basic pathobiology. Students may also choose to specialize in one of three customized tracks: medicine, research, or drug discovery. Students have access to hands-on faculty advising and mentoring when submitting applications to research placements and further schooling.

To get accepted into the program, applicants must have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution with sufficient undergraduate coursework, transcripts from all previously attended colleges and universities, GRE general exam scores (optional), a statement of purpose, three letters of recommendation, and TOEFL or IELTS scores for international students whose native language is not English.

• Location: Miami, FL
• Accreditation: Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC)
• Expected Time to Completion: 10 months
• Estimated Tuition: $50,000 per year

Step 3a: Earn a PhD (Four to Seven Years)

After completing their early education, aspiring biomedical scientists can earn a doctoral degree in biomedical science. While some may opt for a dual degree program (see step 3B below), a PhD can prepare graduates for work in academia, research, and industry.

Admissions requirements vary from school to school but generally include some combination of the following: an exemplary academic record (3.3 GPA or greater); GRE scores; letters of recommendation; work and/or research experience; a personal statement; and in-person interviews.

Boston University

The Program in Biomedical Science (PiBS) at Boston University offers students a PhD that can be tailored to their specific research interests. Ten different departments participate in the program: biochemistry; biophysics; genetics and genomics; immunology training; microbiology; molecular and translational medicine; nutrition and metabolism; oral biology; pathology and laboratory medicine; and physiology.

In the first year, students work with a faculty advisor to develop a personalized study plan. In addition to core courses and electives, students attend research seminars and experience three lab rotations. Participation in clinical shadowing and directed research prepares graduates for a career as biomedical scientists. Furthermore, the program provides a host of opportunities for professional development, which can aid one’s introduction into a career pipeline.

As part of the program, students will delve into topics such as protein structure, catalysis, and interaction; architecture and dynamics of the cell; mechanisms of cell communication; techniques in biochemistry, cell, and molecular biology; macromolecular assemblies; comprehensive immunology; and immunological basis of disease.

• Accreditation: Liaison Committee on Medical Education of the Association of American Medical Colleges and the Council on Medical Education of the American Medical Association; New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE)
• Estimated Tuition: $1,994 per credit-hour

Step 3b: Consider a Dual MD-PhD Degree (Optional, Six to Eight Years)

Some biomedical scientists opt to pair their PhD with a medical doctor (MD) degree. While PhD programs focus primarily on research methods (e.g., project design, data interpretation), dual-degree programs complement that research education with the clinical skills necessary to be a practicing physician. The two skill sets complement each other well in biomedical science.

Requirements for dual-degree programs vary from school to school but often include some combination of the following: an exemplary undergraduate GPA (3.3 or greater), MCAT scores, letters of recommendation, work and/or research experience, a personal statement, and an in-person interview.

Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Central Florida

The Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Central Florida offers a rigorous, integrated MD-PhD program that allows students to complete the requirements of both degrees simultaneously. Students will take medical courses during their first two years and must pass the first of three United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) exams at the end of year two before beginning full-time graduate studies.

During those first two years, students also must begin working on their PhD research project. While clinical clerkships (typically years three and four of medical school) may be deferred until a student has completed their PhD requirements, some level of ongoing clinical training must continue through the duration of the entire program.

In addition to the MD curriculum, the PhD adds a minimum of 72 credits of study, including core courses, electives, laboratory rotations, and dissertation research. Students with a master’s degree may waive up to 30 credits of this requirement with committee approval.

• Location: Orlando, FL
• Expected Time to Completion: 72 months
• Estimated Tuition: In-state (369.65 per credit); out-of-state (1,194.05 per credit)

Step 4: Consider Postdoctoral Research Experience (Optional, Timeline Varies)

After completing their PhD, many biomedical scientists go into postdoctoral research. Gaining independent experience in running studies and publishing new research areas can be critical in winning tenure-track positions at universities and catapult one into desirable positions in the industrial sphere. In biomedical science, one research question often leads to another, and gaining postdoctoral research can boost one’s credentials.

Biomedical Scientist Certification & Licensure

According to the BLS (2023), medical scientists who primarily conduct research don’t need specific certification or license. However, biomedical scientists who practice medicine, administer drugs or gene therapy, or work in patient clinical trials or physicians’ clinics need a medical license to practice.

While medical licensure requirements vary by state, according to the American Medical Association , all states require physicians to pass the three-step United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE). Here are four certification options for biomedical scientists.

The United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) is a three-part examination required for medical licensure in all 50 states. Also known colloquially as “the boards,” all practicing physicians must pass these exams, measuring scientific knowledge, clinical knowledge, and diagnosis and treatment.

Here are some other biomedical science certifications to consider.

North American Board of Naturopathic Examiners (NABNE)

Physicians who choose the naturopathic physician route and prove eligibility can take the Naturopathic Physicians Licensing Examinations (NPLEX) Part I – the Biomedical Science Examination. Students who choose this option must meet biomedical science coursework from an approved naturopathic medical program (ANMP) including anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, genetics, immunology, microbiology, pathology, and required laboratories.

American Medical Technologists (AMT) Certifications

American Medical Technologists (AMT) certifies medical laboratory technicians (MLTs) and offers four distinctive professional pathways for licensure. Aspiring biomedical scientists can earn certification through one of four routes, including an associate’s degree in medical laboratory technology; an alternative education route with two years of clinical laboratory science courses; the completion of a 50-week US military medical laboratory training program; or proof of a similar educational pathway.

Eligibility is confirmed via an online application at which point test-takers can register for the medical laboratory technician (MLT), medical technologist (MT), or another related allied health laboratory exam.

Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS) Certifications

The Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS) is an international organization dedicated to advancing knowledge and setting standards in biomedical science. IBMS offers a wealth of certifications for biomedical scientists:

• IBMS Certificate of Competence: This professional qualification demonstrates an individual meets the Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC) standards to register as a biomedical scientist.
• Specialist Diploma: Through submitting a portfolio of work as evidence of training, practical skills, specialist knowledge, and competency, early-career biomedical scientists can verify their experience with blood sciences or other biomedical disciplines.
• Higher and expert qualifications: For biomedical scientists who want to advance their careers in management or demonstrate high levels of knowledge and competence, certificates and diplomas of expert practice are available in specialist areas. An online certificate of expert practice is available.
• Advanced qualifications: Designed for senior-level biomedical scientists with PhDs, this certification verifies one’s commensurate experience as a medical consultant in areas of specialization such as cervical cytology, histopathology reporting, ophthalmic pathology, and specimen dissection.

Helpful Resources for Biomedical Scientists

All forms of science rely on iteration, innovation, and collaboration. To listen in on some of the high-level conversations in peer-reviewed biomedical science today, check out some resources below.

• National Association for Biomedical Research (NABR)
• National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS)
• Journal of Biomedical Science
• Biomedical Research

Rachel Drummond has contributed insightful articles to MedicalTechnologySchools.com since 2019, where she offers valuable advice and guidance for those pursuing careers in the healthcare field, combining her passion for education with her understanding of the critical role that healthcare professionals play in promoting physical and mental well-being.

Rachel is a writer, educator, and coach from Oregon. She has a master’s degree in education (MEd) and has over 15 years of experience teaching English, public speaking, and mindfulness to international audiences in the United States, Japan, and Spain. She writes about the mind-body benefits of contemplative movement practices like yoga on her blog , inviting people to prioritize their unique version of well-being and empowering everyone to live healthier and more balanced lives.

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Biomedical Research

What is biomedical research.

Biomedical scientists study human physiology and the treatment or understanding of disease. Biomedical research applies the principles of the physical sciences to medicine. Most biomedical research is conducted by physicians or biomedical scientists, but many studies are conducted by biologists, chemists, physicists, and other medical and scientific professionals.

Most biomedical research involves clinical trials, which are phased studies using human volunteers, designed to answer safety and efficacy questions about biologics, devices, pharmaceuticals, new therapies or new ways of using known treatments. Trials are often conducted in small group initially but expanding in later stages once safety and efficacy are demonstrated. Most clinical trials are FDA regulated, but there are some exceptions.

Types and Methods

• research on therapies ( e.g. , drugs, exercise, surgical interventions, or medical devices)
• diagnostic procedures ( e.g. , CAT scans, prenatal diagnosis through amniocentesis)
• preventive measures ( e.g. , vaccines, diet, or fluoridated toothpaste)
• studies of the human body while exercising, fasting, feeding, sleeping, or learning
• responding to such things as stress or sensory stimulation
• Studies comparing the functioning of a particular physiological system at different stages of development ( e.g. , infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, or old age)
• Studies defining normal childhood development so that deviations from normal can be identified
• Records research – often used to develop and refine hypotheses
• research on the biochemical changes associated with AIDS
• research on the neurological changes associated with senile dementia
• Research on the human genome and genetic markers – for the purpose of creating new avenues for understanding disease processes and their eventual control
• research with animals
• research on preexisting samples of materials (tissue, blood, or urine) collected for other purposes, where the information is recorded by the investigator in such a manner that subjects cannot be identified, directly or through identifiers linked to the subjects
• research based on records, when the data are recorded in such a manner that the individuals to whom the records pertain cannot be identified, either directly or through identifiers linked to them

Risk is the probability of harm or injury (physical, psychological, social, or economic) occurring as the result of participation in a research study.  Biomedical researchers must consider the following risks when conducting their study:

• Social, psychological, or economic harm (See  Social Behavioral Research  for details)
• exercise-induced or repetition-exacerbated physical harm, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, stress fractures, asthma attacks, or heart attacks
• exposure to minor pain, discomfort (e.g. dizziness), or injury from invasive medical procedures
• possible side effects of drugs

Although most of the adverse effects that result from medical procedures or drugs are temporary, investigators must be aware of the potential for harm.  The IRB will want to know how such outcomes will be minimized or addressed and is responsible for conducting a risk/benefit assessment.

When submitting an application in iStar you will see the following in section 1.5.

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BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH DEFINITIONS

Biomedical research definitions Words used to describe different kinds of biomedical research

Biomedical Research: The area of science devoted to the study of the processes of life, the prevention and treatment of disease, and the genetic and environmental factors related to disease and health.

Basic or “pure” Research : Research conducted to increase the base knowledge and understanding of the physical, chemical, and functional mechanisms of life processes and disease. It is fundamental and not directed to solving any particular biomedical problem in humans or animals. This type of research often involves observing, describing, measuring, and experimental manipulation and provides the building blocks upon which the other types of research (applied and clinical) are based. A basic researcher seeks to add to the store of knowledge about how living things work. A basic researcher’s experiments add pieces to the immensely complex puzzles of life.

Examples of Basic Research: How do nerves convey signals to the brain via biochemicals? How do taste and smell change with age? How does an octopus’s body regenerate a severed tentacle?

Applied Research : Research that is directed towards specific objectives such as the development of a new drug, therapy, or surgical procedure. It involves the application of existing knowledge, much of which is obtained through basic research, to a specific biomedical problem. Applied research can be conducted with animals, nonanimal alternatives such as computer models or tissue cultures, or with humans.

Examples of Applied Research: What drug can be developed to help cure cancer of the skin? Can we “teach” a mouse’s body to regenerate a severed leg?

Clinical Research : Using the knowledge gained in basic and applied research to conduct research (generally with humans) in treating disease or dysfunction in a new way.

Research that takes place in a hospital or clinical setting and is focused on treating specific human and animal diseases and other ailments. Clinical research builds upon the knowledge learned through applied and basic research. Clinical research is conducted on human beings and takes shape in treatments and drugs that directly improve human healthcare.

Examples of Clinical Research: What are the side effects of a specific new drug?

Biological Models System: A system that can be observed instead of the original system, human or animal, that is of ultimate interest to the research.

Researchers use models because they help to answer questions that could not be answered using the original system with the technology and methods that exist. By using a model, researchers increase their ability to isolate and study certain features that would be too complex to study or impossible to isolate in the original system.

Types of Models Used in Biomedical Research: Whole living animals (human and non-human) Living systems composed of samples from the original animal (i.e., tissue culture) Non-living mechanical or molecular systems Mathematical models (i.e., computer simulations)

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To achieve its goal of turning discovery into health and to maintain its role as the world's premier biomedical research agency, NIH must support the best scientific ideas and brightest scientific minds.  That means looking to the future and ensuring that we have a strong and diverse workforce to catalyze discoveries in all fields of biomedicine including emergent areas like data science.

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Part of the NIH mission is supporting the next generation of scientists, funding thousands of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows across the United States.

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Enhancing diversity in the NIH-funded workforce is urgent, given shifting U.S. demographics and the need to draw insights from all corners of America.

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This page last reviewed on November 16, 2023

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Infographic: What is biomedical research?

Biomedical research focuses on understanding how every part of the human body works—right down to our cells.

By studying the normal and abnormal workings of the body at the molecular, cellular, organ system, and whole-body levels, biomedical research leads to new:

• Ways of identifying and diagnosing disease
• Interventions to prevent illness in the first place
• Tools and equipment to enhance patient care and health outcomes
• Medicines, vaccines, and therapies to improve our health

Exploring many areas of both the life and physical sciences, biomedical research addresses challenges such as:

• Can we train our immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells? What other ways can we treat cancer with minimal side effects?
• How do the bacteria and other microbes that live in our guts or on our skin affect our health?
• How can we develop new gene therapies and drugs to treat rare or inherited diseases?
• How can we protect our brain health as we age? Is it possible to help the brain heal itself?
• Can we prevent animal-to-human transmission and spread of disease due to climate change?
• What happens if our current antibiotics stop working? Can we prevent bacteria and other microbes from becoming antibiotic-resistant in the first place?

What does biomedical research look like?

Biomedical research activities often involve experts from a wide range of fields (such as medicine, pharmacology, bioinformatics, computational biology, genetics, structural biology, biochemistry, immunology, pathology, kinesiology, and many more) who work to answer these big questions by:

• Conducting quantitative research studies
• Running laboratory experiments
• Testing new medical therapies, treatments, or devices
• And much more!

Learn more by visiting the Biomedical research webpage.

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• Human Subjects Research (HSR)

Biomedical (Biomed) Comprehensive

This course provides an expansive review of human subjects research topics for biomedical researchers.

About this Course

This biomedical-focused comprehensive course provides an expanded training covering not only major topical areas but also many concepts that are specific to types of research, roles in the protection of human subjects, and advanced modules on informed consent topics, vulnerable populations, stem cell research, phase I research, data and safety monitoring, big data research, mobile apps research, and disaster and conflict research. It offers historic and current information on regulatory and ethical issues important to the conduct of research involving human subjects. Case studies are used within the modules to present key concepts. This course has been updated to reflect the 2018 Requirements of the Common Rule.

View Series Page for FAQs Note: Organizations subscribing to HSR have access to all of the modules included in the courses below.

Demo of Informed Consent Case Videos:

Language Availability: English, Korean, Spanish

Suggested Audiences: Human Subject Protection Staff, Institutional Review Boards (IRBs), Institutional/Signatory Officials, IRB Administrators and Staff, IRB Chairs, Research Team Members, Researchers, Students

Organizational Subscription Price: Included with Human Subjects Research series, available as part of an organizational subscription package or for $1,000 as an add-on to current subscriptions. Independent Learner Price: $249 per person

Course Content

History and ethics of human subjects research.

Discusses ethical principles for the conduct of research involving human subjects. It provides an overview of the historical events that influenced the development of the current regulatory requirements, a review of the Belmont Principles, and a discussion of the contemporary ethical standards that guide research today.

Recommended Use: Required ID (Language): 498 (English), 15924 (Korean), 1478 (Spanish) Author(s): Jeffrey M. Cohen, PhD, CIP - HRP Consulting Group, Inc.

Basic Institutional Review Board (IRB) Regulations and Review Process

Provides foundational information about the human subject protection regulations and IRBs, including the role, authority, and composition of the IRB. It discusses different types of IRB review processes, including an overview of the essential issues associated with exempt, expedited, and full (convened) IRB reviews.

The information presented is based on the Common Rule as codified by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services at 45 CFR 46, Subpart A. It concludes with a discussion of additional regulations and requirements (including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the International Council for Harmonisation), as well as others (for example, the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Education) that require compliance based on certain types of research.

Recommended Use: Required ID (Language): 2 (English), 15923 (Korean), 1479 (Spanish), 15884 (Vietnamese) Author(s): Ada Sue Selwitz, MA - The University of Kentucky; Norma Epley, MS - East Carolina University; Janelle Erickson, MPH - Seattle BioMedical Research Institute

Informed Consent

Presents the framework for informed consent found within the Common Rule (45 CFR 46, Subpart A), including the process and documentation of informed consent. Some of the special challenges associated with informed consent in research are also discussed, including informed consent as it relates to vulnerable populations, the requirements for waiver of informed consent, as well as the differences between U.S. Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services regulations.

Recommended Use: Required ID (Language): 3 (English), 15926 (Korean), 1480 (Spanish), 15885 (Vietnamese) Author(s): Diane Paul, MS, RN - Drug Development Associates, LLC

Social and Behavioral Research (SBR) for Biomedical Researchers

Discusses SBR techniques within the framework of biomedical research and the nature, risks, and benefits associated with these techniques. Included in this discussion are the types of biomedical studies that utilize SBR techniques, along with the kinds of data collected. It concludes with the risks and benefits that are unique to SBR

Recommended Use: Required ID (Language): 4 (English), 15927 (Korean), 1718 (Spanish), 15886 (Vietnamese) Author(s): Deborah Dickstein, MSPH - University of Washington; Celia Walker, MA - Colorado State University (ret.); Helen McGough, MA - University of Washington (ret.)

Records-Based Research

Records-based research has its own risks, and researchers who propose to conduct such research must have an understanding of those risks and how to minimize them. Learners will be presented with an overview of the risks associated with and the types of review required for records-based research. They will also learn about privacy and confidentiality, certificates of confidentiality, and the federal privacy law.

Recommended Use: Required ID (Language): 5 (English), 15928 (Korean), 1490 (Spanish), 16242 (Vietnamese) Author(s): Judy Matuk, MS - HRP Consulting Group, Inc.

Genetic Research in Human Populations

Although continued advancements in genetic research present exciting opportunities in biomedicine, they also present some of the most difficult challenges with respect to the protection of human subjects. This content begins with an introduction to the types and complexity of genetic research. Next it provides a review of ethical, legal, and regulatory issues associated with genetic research. Finally, it offers a discussion of the issues surrounding the use of stored biological samples.

Recommended Use: Required ID (Language): 6 (English), 15929 (Korean), 1672 (Spanish), 15887 (Vietnamese) Author(s): Jeffrey Botkin, MD, MPH - University of Utah

Populations in Research Requiring Additional Considerations and/or Protections

Provides an introduction to potentially vulnerable populations or those requiring additional protections and/or considerations in research. It describes different sources of vulnerability and distinguishes between populations in research who are specifically protected in the federal regulations and those who are not. It also includes the impact on autonomy, beneficence, and justice that may arise due to research on or with vulnerable individuals or groups.

Recommended Use: Required ID (Language): 16680 (English), 15930 (Korean), 19566 (French), 19563 (Spanish) Author(s): Jeremy Block, PhD, MPP - Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; Bruce Gordon, MD - The University of Nebraska Medical Center

Research Involving Prisoners

Describes the special requirements for conducting research with prisoners. The learner is provided with a review of why incarcerated individuals need special protection, as well as the regulatory definition of what constitutes a prisoner. It also includes a discussion of each of the permitted categories for research involving prisoners and the required IRB considerations and determinations pursuant to 45 CFR 46, Subpart C. It concludes with the topic of what happens if an enrolled subject becomes a prisoner.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 8 (English), 15931 (Korean), 1482 (Spanish), 16550 (Vietnamese) Author(s): Helen McGough, M.A. - The University of Washington (ret.)

Research Involving Children

Describes the major historical events that influenced how research with children can be conducted today. Compares differences between U.S. Department of Health and Human Services regulations (45 CFR 46, Subpart D) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations (21 CFR 50, Subpart D) for the inclusion of children in research. Reviews the assent and informed consent requirements, and the current efforts by the FDA to ensure the inclusion of children in studies on the safety and efficacy of new drugs. An overview of the categories of research involving children pursuant to 45 CFR 46, Subpart D is provided, including examples.

Recommended Use: Required ID (Language): 9 (English), 15932 (Korean), 1498 (Spanish), 16551 (Vietnamese) Author(s): Bruce Gordon, MD - The University of Nebraska Medical Center

Research Involving Pregnant Women, Fetuses, and Neonates

Discusses the historical exclusion of women of childbearing potential and the special requirements for conducting research involving pregnant women and fetuses. It includes a discussion of each of the permitted categories for research pursuant to 45 CFR 46, Subpart B, involving pregnant women, human fetuses, and neonates, as well as Institutional Review Board (IRB) review requirements and determinations. Informed consent requirements associated with the different categories of research permitted with pregnant women and human fetuses are also discussed.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 10 (English), 15933 (Korean), 1499 (Spanish), 16552 (Vietnamese) Author(s): Bruce Gordon, MD - The University of Nebraska Medical Center; Ernest D. Prentice, PhD - The University of Nebraska Medical Center

Avoiding Group Harms - U.S. Research Perspectives

Describes some distinct groups or communities of people who are vulnerable to group harms and is intended for individuals conducting research in the U.S. In addition, learners are presented with examples of research that has caused group harms. This module concludes with strategies that researchers can take to reduce the risk of group harms.

Recommended Use: Elective ID (Language): 14080 (English), 15934 (Korean), 1719 (Spanish), 16118 (Vietnamese) Author(s): Helen McGough, MA - University of Washington (ret.)

Avoiding Group Harms – International Research Perspectives

Describes some distinct groups or communities of people who are vulnerable to group harms and is intended for individuals conducting research internationally. In addition, learners are presented with examples of research that has caused group harms. It concludes with strategies that researchers can take to reduce the risk of group harms in international research.

Recommended Use: Elective ID (Language): 14081 (English), 15935 (Korean), 16554 (Vietnamese) Author(s): Helen McGough, MA - University of Washington (ret.)

FDA-Regulated Research

Addresses U.S. Food and Drug Administration-regulated clinical research and the responsibilities of researchers, IRBs, and sponsors when an FDA-regulated product is utilized in a study. In particular, it includes information on when an Investigational New Drug (IND) application is necessary and the requirements of Form FDA 1572. Medical devices research, including defining a medical device, classifying risk, and when an investigational device exemption (IDE) is needed are also presented. Lastly, it addresses FDA regulations about informed consent, emergency use, and 21 CFR Part 11 and electronic records and signatures.

Recommended Use: Required ID (Language): 12 (English), 15936 (Korean), 15889 (Vietnamese) Author(s): Susan Kornetsky, MPH - Children's Hospital, Boston; David G. Forster, JD, MA, CIP - Western IRB; Gary L. Chadwick, PharmD, MPH, CIP - The University of Rochester

Recognizing and Reporting Unanticipated Problems Involving Risks to Subjects or Others in Biomedical Research

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services human subject protection regulations require institutions to have policies and procedures to ensure prompt reporting of unanticipated problems (UPs) involving risk to subjects or others to the IRB, regulatory agencies, and appropriate institutional officials. In addition, FDA regulations require researchers to promptly report to the IRB all UPs involving risk to subjects or others and unanticipated adverse device effects. This content is intended to provide guidance to researchers on complying with reporting requirements by providing an overview of UPs, unanticipated adverse device effects, and the relationship between adverse events and UPs involving risk to subjects or others. It includes a discussion on how to detect UPs and how to report them.

Recommended Use: Required ID (Language): 14777 (English), 15939 (Korean), 16555 (Vietnamese) Author(s): Patricia A. MacCubbin, MS - Research Ethics Group

Research and HIPAA Privacy Protections

Discusses the requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and how they supplement the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and U.S. FDA requirements. It also describes situations where full HIPAA privacy protections are required and those that can qualify for waivers, alterations or exemptions with more limited requirements. In addition, it reviews the responsibilities of researchers and institutions for meeting HIPAA privacy requirements and for appropriate data security protections that are necessary to protect privacy.

Recommended Use: Required ID (Language): 14 (English), 15942 (Korean) Author(s): Reid Cushman, PhD - CITI Program

Vulnerable Subjects - Research Involving Workers/Employees

Describes why workers/employees may be a vulnerable population when they participate in research, and the potential risks and benefits associated with research involving workers/employees. It also discusses protections that need to be afforded to workers/employees. It proposes that while workers/employess may serve as study subjects for political as well as scientific reasons, adequacy of the science and adherence to the Common Rule (45 CFR 46, Subpart A), are paramount.

Excerpted from: The Department of Energy Guidebook Creating an Ethical Framework for Studies that Involve the Worker Community and "Workers as Research Subjects: A Vulnerable Population", Susan L. Rose, PhD and Charles E. Pietri, BA from J. Occup Environ Med. 2002;44:801-805. Used with permission.

Recommended Use: Required ID (Language): 483 (English), 15944 (Korean), 1720 (Spanish) Author(s): Susan L. Rose - University of Southern California (retired); Charles E. Pietri - Department of Energy

Conflicts of Interest in Human Subjects Research

Provides an overview of COIs in human subjects research by identifying when an interest or relationship may result in a COI, differentiating types of COIs and when they should be reported, and discussing challenges and strategies to manage both individual and institutional COIs.  This module also reviews federal regulations that govern disclosure and management of individual COIs.

Recommended Use: Required ID (Language): 17464 (English) Author(s): Julie Moore, JD, MS, PA, CIP - University of South Florida; Cristy McGoff, MA, CIP - Harvard University

Additional Modules of Interest

Belmont report and its principles.

Provides learners with the  Belmont Report.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 1127 (English)

Are You Thinking About Being in a Research Study?

Aims to help subjects (and their family members) learn more about participating in research. It also defines research and common terms, provides questions to think about, and reviews the overall steps of a research study from the perspective of a subject. It is written in lay language and designed to be used by subjects and their family members.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 14562 (English) Author(s): Cheryl A. Savini - HRP Consulting Group, Inc.; Judy Matuk, MS - HRP Consulting Group, Inc.; Diane Paul, MS, RN - Drug Development Associates, LLC

Cultural Competence in Research

Provides an overview of the essentials of cultural competence in research. It reviews the definition of cultural competence and the importance of understanding the demographics, historical contexts, communication styles, customs, values, and beliefs of study populations involved in research. It also identifies challenges faced by researchers when working with culturally diverse populations and describes ways to enhance the engagement of diverse populations and communities in research. In addition, it includes a discussion of how IRBs and researchers can operate to support cultural competence in research.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 15166 (English) Author(s): Roderick K. King, MD, MPH - Harvard Medical School; Julian Jane Atim, MBChB, MPH - Uganda Health Marketing Group (UHMG); Stephanie Cantu - Harvard Medical School; Jonelle Wright, PhD, RN - University of Miami

Designed to provide learners with current information on recent developments in human subjects research, including regulatory issues, new policies and hot topics. The module is revised throughout the year as needed.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 487 (English), 15945 (Korean) Author(s): Margaret Rankovic, MEd - CITI Program

" role="button"> Humanitarian Use Devices (HUDs)

Provides a basic overview of the U.S. Food and Drug (FDA) regulations and responsibilities regarding HUDs. It describes the HUD program and Humanitarian Device Exemption (HDE) regulatory process, and explains the applicable requirements and differences between 1) a “clinical use” of a HUD to treat or diagnose patients or 2) a “HUD investigation.” It also categorizes the FDA regulations and IRB review requirements for HUD investigations within and outside of the HDE approved indications, and identifies additional federal rules or institutional requirements that may apply to the clinical use of a HUD or HUD investigations.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 16306 (English) Author(s): Belinda Smith, MS, RD, CCRC - University of Kentucky; Kevin L. Nellis, MS, CIP - Maimonides Medical Center; Ada Sue Selwitz, MA - University of Kentucky

International Studies

Identifies information for U.S. researchers and collaborating international researchers who receive funding from the U.S. federal government sources and who plan to conduct human subject research outside the United States. Focuses on international research ethical issues that may affect planning research outside the U.S. and specific ethical issues that have been raised in international research through the use of case studies. Reviews published international research guidelines, U.S. guidelines, and U.S. federal regulations for ethical review of international projects. Includes resources researchers and their staff members to help identify ethical requirements of their global research partners.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 971 (English), 15940 (Korean), 1481 (Spanish) Author(s): E. Dawn Fitzgibbons, MPH ; Wenjin Li, M.D., Ph.D. - Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Introduction To Community-Engaged Research (CEnR)

Discusses the meaning of the term "community," the disciplines and social movements that contributed to the development of CEnR, and the principles that guide CEnR. It also identifies the main differences between a traditional research approach and the CEnR approach.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 16994 (English) Author(s): Mary Anne McDonald, DrPH, MA - Duke University; Claude-Alix Jacob, MPH - Cambridge Health Alliance; Barbara Bierer, MD - Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School Harvard Catalyst | The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center; Jennifer Opp - Brigham and Women's Hospital; Sabune Winkler, JD - Harvard Catalyst | The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center

Introduction to Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR)

Reviews historical context for CBPR’s framework and philosophical foundation, strategies for effectively using CBPR, and the ways a CBPR approach benefits and otherwise impacts communities, as well as academic researchers and their organizations. It also identifies the ways CBPR differs from traditional approaches to research.  Describes the benefits and challenges of a CBPR approach and strategies for engaging community partners in the research process.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 16995 (English) Author(s): Suzanne Cashman, ScD, MS - University of Massachusetts Medical School; Jennifer Opp - Brigham and Women's Hospital; Alex Pirie, BA - Immigrant Services Providers Group for Health; Karen Hacker, MD, MPH - Allegheny County Health Department

Ethical and Practical Considerations in Community-Engaged Research (CEnR)

Identifies the ethical and practical considerations particular to the design, review, and conduct of CEnR. It also demonstrates how to apply ethical risk-benefit assessments for CEnR, the varying impacts that risks and benefits may have on individual research participants as well as on communities and groups, and strategies for training and educating community members on a research team.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 16996 (English) Author(s): Julie Kaberry, MPH, CIP (Co-Lead Author) - Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; Sabune Winkler, JD (Co-Lead Author) - Harvard Catalyst | The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center; Nandini Sengupta, MD - The Dimock Center; Hila Bernstein, MS - Harvard Catalyst | The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center; Doug Brugge, PhD, MS - Tufts University School of Medicine; Barbara Bierer, MD - Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School Harvard Catalyst | The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center

Consent and Biobanks and Associated Databases

Describes different consent approaches used for biobanks and associated databases, with reference to pertinent legal and ethical documents and regulatory requirements. Additionally, learners will review examples of key consent clauses (for example, linkage, return of research results and incidental findings, storage for future use, and access by researchers). Reviews the diversity, nature, and characteristics of biobanks and associated databases.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 17254 (English) Author(s): Bartha Maria Knoppers, PhD
 - McGill University; Ma’n H. Zawati, LLM
 - McGill University

Consent and Cultural Competence

Focuses on cultural competence, as it applies to developing consent processes, obtaining consent, and evaluating the appropriateness of the consent processes. Describes strategies for enhancing understanding of research among diverse populations and communities during the consent process.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 17263 (English) Author(s): Renee Holt, RN, JD, MPH - PATH; Gary L. Chadwick, PharmD, MPH, CIP - University of Rochester / HRP Consulting Group

Informed Consent and Incidental Findings in Research with Human Subjects

Defines incidental findings (IFs) in human subjects research and covers how IFs should be managed in the informed consent process. Provides an overview of Institutional Review Board (IRB) and researcher responsibilities, as well as strategies for managing IFs in the consent process, including review of the research plan, IF management plan, and consent form language.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 17342 (English) Author(s): Diane Paul, MS, RN - Drug Development Associates, LLC

Consent and Subject Recruitment Challenges: Remuneration

Explores remuneration in research, regulatory requirements regarding remuneration to research subjects, how to distinguish between remuneration and reimbursement, and strategies to reduce the potential for undue influence. Also identifies ways of disclosing remuneration plans in consent and advertising materials.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 16881 (English) Author(s): James Riddle, MCSE, CIP, CPIA - Advarra

Consent and Subject Recruitment Challenges: Therapeutic Misconception

Describes therapeutic misconception and identifies potential strategies researchers and institutional review board (IRB) members can use for reducing therapeutic misconception in the consent process. Identifies groups of people at risk for therapeutic misconception and their vulnerabilities. Also discussed are the related phenomena of therapeutic misestimation and therapeutic optimism.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 17259 (English) Author(s): Moore Rhys, CIP - Children's Hospital Los Angeles

Consent in the 21st Century

Explores how technology has impacted the informed consent process in the 21st Century, especially electronic informed consent (eIC). It covers technology and tools used in the recruitment and consent process, describes alternatives to paper-based informed consent forms, and explores confidentiality issues. It also reviews federal guidance concerning multimedia tools and eIC.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 17060 (English) Author(s): Jennifer Kucera, MS, CIP - University of Nebraska Medical Center; Sue Logsdon, MS, CIP - University of Nebraska Medical Center

Consent Tools Used by Researchers

Provides an overview of the potential barriers to informed consent and discusses strategies and tools that may be used to enhance and ensure research subjects’ understanding of study information, including subject capacity assessments, the teach-back approach, tools for child assent, use of framing and graphics, and video and multimedia presentations. Discusses ways to present research information to subjects in several simple, practical, and inexpensive ways.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 16944 (English) Author(s): Alan R. Tait, PhD - University of Michigan Health System

Consent with Subjects Who Do Not Speak English

Focuses on the role that language plays in developing consent processes and obtaining consent in study populations that do not speak English. It identifies challenges and strategies that researchers can use in the consent process when they are not fluent in the potential subject’s language, including the role of interpreters and the use of translations in obtaining consent and during the conduct of the study, and short form consent. It concludes with a discussion of the federal regulations and guidance covering recruitment and consent for subjects who do not speak English with particular attention to the role of the IRB and the responsibilities of researchers.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 17260 (English) Author(s): Gary L. Chadwick, PharmD, MPH, CIP - University of Rochester / HRP Consulting Group; Lisa Morris, MSTD - University of Massachusetts Medical School

External IRB Review

Reviews history and developments of external IRB review, the variety of relationships between institutions and IRBs, and the agreements and obligations involved in those relationships. Covers major arguments for and against institutional acceptance of an external IRB, defines several types of relationships between research institutions and external IRBs, describes operational differences, reviews different types of reliance agreements, and discusses factors that contribute to the increasing use of centralized IRB review.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 16711 (English) Author(s): Erica Heath, CIP, MBA - Ethical and Independent Review Services, LLC

I Have Agreed to be an IRB Community Member. Now What?

This content is designed to introduce and onboard new Institutional Review Board (IRB) community members (also referred to as “unaffiliated members”). Provides basic information and tools related to IRBs, including an overview of regulatory definitions and requirements, and discusses strategies on how to become a well-informed IRB member. Offers an overview of various aspects of the IRB review processes as they relate to specific types of protocols.

It was prepared for new U.S. IRB community members; however, it serves as a resource for community/unaffiliated/lay members of other review bodies (such as Independent Ethics Committees) that are generally charged with evaluating research protocols according to local ethical standards and regulations.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 13018 (English), 15947 (Korean) Author(s): Jackie Galvez - University of Southern California; Susan L. Rose, PhD - University of Southern California (retired); Jennifer Hagemann, MS - University of Southern California; Monica Aburto - University of Southern California

The IRB Administrator’s Responsibilities

Provides the foundation for the IRB administrators’/directors’ responsibilities including communication, interpretation and implementation of regulations, training and professional development, managing grants and contracts, preparing reports, and interacting with the media. Reviews basic policies and procedures that institutions should have with regard to the human subjects protection program, including the IRB.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 13813 (English), 15949 (Korean) Author(s): Norma Epley, M.S. - East Carolina University; Christy Stephens - Moffitt Cancer Center

The IRB Member Module - "What Every New IRB Member Needs to Know”

Designed as an overview and resource for individuals joining an Institutional Review Board (IRB). It includes discussions on time commitment, liability, the role of the IRB chair, and the levels of review. An overview of IRB tools, including the content of new submissions as well as what is often seen during committee review provides a foundation for new IRB members and is complimented by a discussion of how an IRB member can review protocols. It concludes with information related to the IRB meeting, including the importance of quorum, the types of IRB decisions, and the review of meeting minutes. It is designed for new members, but may also be useful for any IRB member who continues to serve on an IRB.

Note:  This module is meant as a supplement to the Human Subjects Research series, and should be used to enhance IRB member training by adding specific information intended for members.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 816 (English), 15946 (Korean) Author(s): Cheryl A. Savini - HRP Consulting Group, Inc.; Judy Matuk, MS - HRP Consulting Group, Inc.; Allison Handler, BSN, CCRC - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Lawrence B. Rosenfeld, PhD - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

" role="button"> Phase I Research: Understanding Phase I Research

Defines phase I research as it relates to non-clinical and other phases of research. Identifies routine study designs used to develop the initial safety profile and achieve study objectives in phase I research. Reviews the importance of phase I research on drug development.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 16873 (English) Author(s): Julie Blasingim, BA, MBA, CIP - Elligo Health Research

" role="button"> Phase I Research: Protecting Phase I Subjects

Reviews U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requirements for initiation of phase I research studies following non-clinical studies. Describes IRB considerations for review of phase I research. Identifies ways in which researchers and staff involved in phase I research can apply the necessary safeguards to protect subjects including selecting a safe starting dose, safeguards for standard dosing regimens, selecting appropriate subjects, facility safeguards, and the role of informed consent.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 16874 (English) Author(s): Julie Blasingim, BA, MBA, CIP - Elligo Health Research

Gender and Sexuality Diversity (GSD) in Human Research

Provides a starting point to develop cultural competency for human subject researchers and research team members, who will come in contact with subjects or prospective subjects of a variety of sexuality and/or gender identities. It is also meant to be a resource for institutional review board (IRB) members and administrative staff. It begins with a short overview of the constituent parts of the GSD community from a broad perspective, continues with a summary of the legal and social/cultural vulnerabilities faced by members of these groups and describes research considerations for members of these communities, and concludes with a discussion on what IRBs and researchers should do with respect to these populations.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 16556 (English) Author(s): M. Isabel Fernandez, PhD - Nova Southeastern University; Moore Rhys, CIP - University of California, Los Angeles; Jaime A. Arango, EdD, CIP - CITI Program

Illegal Activities or Undocumented Status in Human Research

Provides training and insight to researchers, administrators, and institutional review boards (IRBs) regarding added risks and challenges of conducting research with individuals who are engaged in illegal activities or who have undocumented status. Presents examples of vulnerable groups and identifies ethical considerations when including them in research. Also describes research design issues, recruitment methods, informed consent issues, and additional safeguards specific to research with groups of individuals involved in illegal activities or who have undocumented status.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 16656 (English) Author(s): Rebecca Dahl, RN, PhD - Children's Hospital Los Angeles; George Gasparis, CIP - The PEER Consulting Group

Research Involving Subjects at the End-of-Life

Persons at the end of life may be vulnerable for numerous reasons, including cognitive and physical impairments, which may progress as death approaches. It describes the ethical challenges of research with subjects at the end of life, including voluntariness and withdrawal from research. It also explains how cognitive impairment may impact vulnerability in end of life research and identifies strategies to overcome this challenge. Barriers to subject recruitment and special challenges for researchers and institutional review boards (IRBs) in assessing risk of harm and potential benefits in end of life research are also examined.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 16658 (English) Author(s): Bruce Gordon, MD - The University of Nebraska Medical Center

Research with Critically Ill Subjects

Discusses ethical considerations and additional safeguards for critically ill subjects participating in research. Describes the reasons why critically ill persons may be considered "vulnerable" and how this vulnerability arises, why informed consent may be difficult to obtain in this vulnerable population, and ethical implications, the benefits, and the limitations of obtaining proxy consent. Identifies additional safeguards for protecting critically ill subjects participating in research.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 16592 (English) Author(s): Bruce Gordon, MD - The University of Nebraska Medical Center

Research with Decisionally Impaired Subjects

Provides an overview of the nature and sources of decisional impairment. Discusses the obligations imposed on institutional review boards (IRBs) and researchers to ensure that appropriate protections are in place when research involves adult subjects who are or may be decisionally impaired and may have impaired consent capacity. Reviews additional safeguards, discusses assessment of consent capacity, and defines who can provide consent on behalf of an adult subject who lacks consent capacity.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 16610 (English) Author(s): Susan J. Delano, CIP - Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene, Inc.; Jeremy Block, PhD, MPP - Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Research with Older Adults

Provides education and training regarding the conduct of research with older adults. It discusses information for both researchers and IRBs in order to begin the process of addressing underrepresentation of older adults in research, while at the same time providing critical information to consider when conducting research with this group. It also covers the demographic and social issues concerning the exclusion of older adults in research, barriers to inclusion, and research design considerations to enhance inclusion and protect this potentially vulnerable population.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 16502 (English) Author(s): Moira A. Keane, MA, CIP
 - Human Research Protections Consultant

Research with Persons who are Socially or Economically Disadvantaged

Discusses subject’s social and economic disadvantage as a potential vulnerability in research. Describes barriers to participation, the ethical and regulatory mandates for the inclusion of these populations in research, as well as the additional protections that may be used to minimize risk. It also explains considerations for IRBs and researchers when planning, reviewing, or conducting research with socially or economically disadvantaged persons.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 16539 (English) Author(s): Moira A. Keane, MA, CIP
 - Human Research Protections Consultant

Research with Subjects with Physical Disabilities & Impairments

Provides an overview of physical disabilities and impairments, and the obligations imposed on IRBs and researchers to ensure that appropriate research protections are in place when research involves subjects who are physically disabled and may require additional tailored protections. Additional barriers, vulnerabilities, and challenges that individuals with physical disabilities face when participating in research are identified. It also discusses safeguards and additional protections that IRBs and researchers can implement to protect this potentially vulnerable population, as well as ways to make research studies more accessible to individuals with physical disabilities.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 16657 (English) Author(s): Jeremy Block, PhD, MPP - Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Baruch College, City University of New York

Students in Research

This module addresses students as researchers and when students are involved in research as participants. It reviews the history and status of key research regulations, the Institutional Review Board (IRB) review process, and general best practices when conducting human subjects research. It provides best practices in creating an accurate, robust submission for IRB review and conducting responsible, ethical research.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 1321 (English) Author(s): Andrea Rossing McDowell MS, MA, PhD - Seattle University

Stem Cell Research Oversight (Part I)

Introduces the nature and characteristics of common types of stem cells and their derivation. It reviews the requirements of the federal regulations associated with stem cell research and the role of both state and local requirements. It discusses the contentious historical and ethical issues surrounding stem cell research. It also considers future clinical applications of stem cells in medicine.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 13882 (English), 15937 (Korean) Author(s): David A. Crouse, PhD - University of Nebraska Medical Center (ret.); Ruth L. Fischbach, PhD, MPE - Columbia University; Gwenn S.F. Oki, MPH, CIP - Van Andel Institute

Stem Cell Research Oversight (Part II)

Builds on the content presented in Part 1 and provides a framework for institutional review of stem cell research, as well as national and international guidelines. It provides an overview of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) guidelines related to human embryonic stem cell research. It examines revisions to the ISSCR voluntary guidelines in response to changing scientific research. Consideration is given to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory requirements, Stem Cell Research Oversight (SCRO) committee composition and responsibilities, categories of research, and a comprehensive definition of provenance as it applies to human stem cell research. The module also provides detailed information on the procurement, banking, and use of human stem cell lines.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 14584 (English), 15938 (Korean) Author(s): Ruth Fischbach, PhD, MPE - Columbia University; Gwenn Oki, MPH, CIP - Van Andel Institute

Overview of the Clinical Trial Agreement (CTA)

Discusses the general purpose of a CTA, roles and responsibilities of parties to the CTA, and how the CTA fits into the research enterprise. It also compares and contrasts clinical trials involving drugs, biologics, and devices from a CTA perspective.

Note: This module is part of the CITI Program’s  Human Subjects Research (HSR) series, but is recommended as part of this course. For organizations with a “Make Your Own” custom subscription, use of this module requires adding  Human Subjects Research (HSR) to your organization’s subscription.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 17356 (English) Author(s): Dex Bilkic, HBSc, MBA - Bayer Inc.; JoAnn Pfeiffer, DrSC, RAC, CCRA - Arizona State University

Understanding the Terms of the Clinical Trial Agreement (CTA)

Provides an overview of the context behind certain CTA terms and sections, types of language used for CTA sections, and some key elements of each section. It also outlines what should be addressed in the key sections of the CTA and the aim for each section.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 17357 (English) Author(s): Dex Bilkic, HBSc, MBA - Bayer Inc.; JoAnn Pfeiffer, DrSC, RAC, CCRA - Arizona State University

Role of the Researcher and Site in Managing the Clinical Trial Agreement (CTA)

Discusses key roles of the researcher and site in managing the CTA, including initial assessment, review, and implementation. It also describes how the CTA is linked to site policies, the protocol, and the informed consent form, and identifies key sections of the CTA that could present risk to the site.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 17358 (English) Author(s): Dex Bilkic, HBSc, MBA - Bayer Inc.; JoAnn Pfeiffer, DrSC, RAC, CCRA - Arizona State University

Clinical Trial Agreement (CTA) Negotiation for Researchers and Sites

Addresses strategies and preparation for CTA and study budget negotiations. It also identifies terminology and alternative wording options to ensure a fair and balanced CTA.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 17359 (English) Author(s): Dex Bilkic, HBSc, MBA - Bayer Inc.; JoAnn Pfeiffer, DrSC, RAC, CCRA - Arizona State University

Disaster and Conflict Research, Part 1: PI Responsibilities

Defines disasters, emergencies, and conflicts and discusses contemporary disaster management terminology and the unique features of disasters and conflict situations that affect research initiatives. Defines the challenges for disaster research in natural and man-made disasters (including conflict). Identifies the public health and medical concerns in disasters that affect disaster research initiatives and discusses the frameworks for disaster management utilized by public health and medical providers.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 17384 (English) Author(s): Susan Briggs, MD, MPH - Harvard University

Disaster and Conflict Research, Part 2: Best Practices and Recommendations

Identifies the research tools and methods in disaster management utilized by public health and medical providers to enhance communication between research teams and disaster responders. Discusses practical challenges and strategies for human subjects research in natural and man-made disasters (including conflicts). Defines key disaster research priorities for disasters and/or conflicts. Provides guidelines for conducting disaster and conflict research.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 17385 (English) Author(s): Susan Briggs, MD, MPH - Harvard University

Single Institutional Review Board (sIRB) Use and Administration: When Relying on a sIRB

Explores key considerations when implementing sIRB relationships and what a participating site needs to do in preparation for relying on an external sIRB.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 17387 (English) Author(s): James Riddle, MCSE, CIP, CPIA - Advarra; Raffaella Hart, MSHS, CIP - BRANY IRB

Single Institutional Review Board (sIRB) Use and Administration: When Serving as a sIRB of Record

Discusses key elements and considerations for setting up an IRB to serve as a sIRB.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 17388 (English) Author(s): James Riddle, MCSE, CIP, CPIA - Advarra; Raffaella Hart, MSHS, CIP - BRANY IRB

Single Institutional Review Board (sIRB) Use and Administration: Authorization Agreements

Introduces best practices for drafting, reviewing, and implementing authorization agreements between the sIRB and participating sites in multi-site research.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 17392 (English) Author(s): Cindy Gates, JD, RN, CIP - University of Miami

Data and Safety Monitoring in Human Subjects Research

Describes approaches to monitoring the emerging results of an ongoing study, the different types of study data that are monitored, and the role and operational procedures of independent monitoring groups and how they relate to other study oversight entities. It also explains regulatory requirements and other policies related to study monitoring and discusses similarities and differences between the Institutional Review Board (IRB) and the Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB). Reviews the basic elements of data safety monitoring plans and DSMBs.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 17433 (English) Author(s): Susan Ellenberg, PhD - University of Pennsylvania; Susan S. Fish, PharmD, MPH - Boston University; Stephen M. Davis, MPA, MSW - West Virginia University

Introduction to Public Health Research

Describes the roles, responsibilities, and activities of public health systems, as relevant to research. Discusses characteristics of international public health systems and identifies public health services and their interrelationships with core public health functions.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 17637 (English) Author(s): Charles Hennekens, MD, DrPH - Florida Atlantic University; Joanna Drowos, DO, MPH, MBA - Florida Atlantic University

Public Health Research and Public Health Practice

Examines the difference between public health practice and public health research. By discussing different types of public health activities, this module explores how and when human subjects research regulations may apply.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 17638 (English) Author(s): Charles Hennekens, MD, DrPH - Florida Atlantic University; Joanna Drowos, DO, MPH, MBA - Florida Atlantic University

Informed Consent and Confidentiality in Public Health Research

Reviews regulatory requirements for obtaining informed consent in public health research. Identifies challenges and best practices for obtaining consent. Discusses the importance of protecting subject privacy and confidentiality of data, and the implications for population-based surveillance datasets.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 17639 (English) Author(s): Charles Hennekens, MD, DrPH - Florida Atlantic University; Joanna Drowos, DO, MPH, MBA - Florida Atlantic University

Ethical Issues in Public Health Research

Summarizes the application of ethical principles to public health research, identifies additional ethical challenges unique to public health research, and provides a six-step framework for application to public health problems.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 17640 (English) Author(s): Charles Hennekens, MD, DrPH - Florida Atlantic University; Joanna Drowos, DO, MPH, MBA - Florida Atlantic University

Human Subjects Considerations and Big Data Research

Examines the ethical issues of using large datasets (big data) in human subjects research, including informed consent, risk of harm, anonymity, data security, privacy, and confidentiality. The module helps IRB members, administrators, and researchers identify how best to protect human subjects when reviewing or conducting big data research studies that create or use large datasets, with a focus on maintaining the value of the data while complying with federal regulations.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 19126 (English) Author(s): Laura Odwazny, JD, MA Bioethics - U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Elizabeth Buchanan, PhD - University of Wisconsin-Stout

Mobile Apps and Human Subjects Research

Provides researchers and Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) regulatory information about the use of mobile apps in research. Discusses ethical issues associated with mobile apps in research and gives practical advice. Covers IRB considerations for the review of mobile app-based research. Reviews key issues of applicability of FDA regulations for mobile medical apps in research.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 19728 (English) Author(s): Elizabeth Buchanan, PhD - University of Wisconsin - Stout; Michele Russell-Einhorn, JD - Advarra; Mitchell Parrish, JD, RAC, CIP - H Clinical; Kindra Cooper, JD, MPA, MA - Advarra

IRB Risk Assessment of Technologies in Human Subjects Research

The use of technologies, such as mobile apps, wearable devices, artificial or augmented intelligence (AI), machine learning, and nanotechnology, will soon be standard in biomedical and social-behavioral-educational human subjects research. The use of such technologies enables researchers to electronically capture research data that could help to control data reliability, ensure data integrity, perform remote monitoring, and comply with the requirements for regulatory documentation. These technologies also present new privacy, confidentiality, safety, and social challenges.

This module provides IRB members and administrators with a framework for assessing the risks of technologies, whether the technology is helping conduct the research or is itself the subject of the research. It also identifies strategies to mitigate such risks. For researchers, this module provides context for how the IRB will review their work on and/or involving technology. It identifies ethical and regulatory dimensions of novel technology and considers ways to assess the risk of technology in research. The case studies in this module illustrate examples of using a risk assessment framework for both social-behavioral-educational and biomedical research.

Recommended Use: Supplemental ID (Language): 20480 (English) Author(s): Kimberley Serpico, EdD, CIP - Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; Barbara Bierer, MD - Multi-Regional Clinical Trials Center of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard (MRCT Center), Vivli, Inc., Harvard Medical School; Joseph Zurba, CISSP, CISA - Harvard Medical School; Tonya Ferraro, MEd - Boston Children’s Hospital; Aaron Kirby, MSc - Harvard Medical School; Anna Suojanen, MPH - Harvard University

CME/CEU Credits

To purchase CE credits and units, you need to be affiliated with an organization that subscribes to this course or buy it as an independent learner first. Learn more about CE/CME Credits.

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What Jobs Can You Get With A Biology Degree - A New Scientist Careers Guide

• Career guides

“What can I do with a biology degree?” is a question biology students often ask themselves. Everything from microscopic proteins and the DNA within the cells of all living organisms to how we interact with complex ecological systems on Earth falls under the realm of biology. Some of the major types of biology include molecular biology , anatomy, physiology and ecology .

With science becoming more interdisciplinary, new careers in biology are emerging as well. Indeed, a degree in biology provides you with knowledge and skills highly relevant to countless industries. 

Graduating from the best universities for biology in the UK, as ranked in the 2024 league table by the Complete University Guide, can lead to lucrative career opportunities. Top universities include Cambridge, University College London (UCL), Oxford, Imperial College London and Durham.

Popular areas where your biology degree will be highly valued include pure biology and life sciences , clinical science , technology and engineering , and environmental science . This article discusses the top three highest paying jobs with a biology degree in each of these fields.

Pure biology and life sciences

Traditional jobs for biology graduates typically involve teaching, research or health promotion. In these fields, you could inspire future biological scientists and conduct high-impact research. With experience and excellence, you could even become a pioneer in whichever area you work in, helping progress the field of biology as a whole.  

• Headteacher

Job role: Headteachers run schools and ensure their success. They are the face of the school and they set out the school’s values and agenda, devise strategies for areas of improvement, comply with health and safety standards, manage finances and foster relationships with students, parents, teachers and, sometimes, politicians. You can still continue to teach biology as a headteacher.

Route: With a biology degree, you could start teaching biology at school once you complete the qualified teacher status (QTS). Get involved with senior roles within your school and help with running the school. Ideally, complete the National Professional Qualification for Headship. After several years of experience as a senior teacher, you could become a headteacher. 

Average salary (experienced): £131,000  

• Professor of biology

Job role: Teaching biological sciences at higher education level is no small feat. Senior lecturers and academics at universities are typically pioneers in their area of interest and have contributed greatly to research, especially at renowned institutions.

Route: Once you have graduated with a BSc in biology, you usually need a Master’s to enter a PhD programme. After working as a research scientist, getting involved in lecturing and doing high-impact research as a postdoc for several years, you could apply for professorship. Senior academics usually end up doing research in a niche area of biology.

Average salary (experienced): £55,000; over £100,000 at certain universities e.g. Cambridge  

• Sports physiologist

Job role: Sports and exercise scientists apply their knowledge of human physiology to help people enhance their sporting performance and improve their overall health. Their working environment may include sports centres, hospitals or research facilities. Many work privately, seeing a range of clients including athletes.

Route: A degree in physiology or biology is typically required; a Master’s or PhD specifically in sports physiology or exercise science can further enhance your employability. After you have established a good reputation, you could manage your own consulting company or work exclusively for high-profile athletes.

Average salary (experienced): £60,000

Naturally, biology is at the heart of medicine and healthcare . Expertise in fields such as genetics , microbiology and biochemistry are driving innovation in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. If you completed a biology degree, you could do a Master’s, clinical training or placements to qualify for a range of clinical careers.  

• Pathologist

Job role: Pathologists process and examine tissue samples collected from patients to aid the diagnosis of medical conditions. They work with high-tech machines and microscopes and are usually based in hospital labs.

Route: Relevant undergraduate degrees include biology or biomedical science. To work in the NHS, you must enrol onto the Scientist Training Programme (STP) and register with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). You could additionally complete Higher Specialist Scientist Training (HSST) to obtain consultant status.

Average salary (experienced): £69,000

• Clinical scientist

Job role: Clinical scientists can work in a range of specialisms, such as neurophysiology, cardiac science or microbiology. They form a crucial part of a multidisciplinary team to deliver healthcare efficiently and safely. Your exact duties will depend on your chosen career path and may include working as a laboratory technician or seeing patients and performing tests.

Route: This job also involves completion of the STP and HCPC registration, and, optionally, HSST for consultancy. A biology degree is broad enough to allow you to move into most specialisms in clinical science. As a senior clinical scientist, you could take on managerial roles in your department or apply your expertise in biotech , e.g. quality control or research and development.

Average salary (experienced): £68,000

Job role: Geneticists analyse the genomics in all living organisms, but in a clinical setting their focus is limited to human genetics. They study genes involved in health and disease to help medical teams diagnose and offer targeted therapies for genetic conditions and cancers. 

Route: Relevant pre-STP degrees include genetics, biology or other life sciences. A Master’s or PhD is the norm, particularly in academic research. With experience, you could manage genomic research departments, become a professor or move into industries, e.g. the pharmaceutical sector.

Average salary (experienced): £58,000

Technology and engineering

As with most industries, research, medicine and agriculture are becoming heavily reliant on technology. Fields such as biotechnology, bioinformatics and biomedical engineering require excellent knowledge of biology as well as engineering and physics principles. As such, biology graduates with an interest in technological innovation can play a vital role in the biotech sector.

• Data scientist

Job role: Data science is one of the highest paying jobs in tech, particularly in life sciences that deal with large amounts of complex data. Data scientists with a background in biology perform complex data analysis for universities, research facilities or biotech companies with the aim of providing actionable insight.

Route: After a biology degree, you could either do a Master’s in data science or gain relevant experience to land a junior position. Learning advanced methods relating to machine learning and artificial intelligence can significantly boost your job prospects. With experience, you could become a principal data scientist at a biotech firm or an independent consultant data scientist.

Average salary (experienced): £82,500

• Software engineer

Job role: Software engineers with a background in biology design, build and test software for use in biological research at hospitals, labs or biotech firms. They ensure their programme meets their clients’ needs and troubleshoot any potential errors.

Route: A biology degree puts you in a good position to apply to biotech firms for junior positions as employers often prefer candidates with in-depth knowledge of the field. To gain programming skills, you can do a Master’s in software development or become self-taught. With experience, you could move into consultancy or run your own business.

Average salary (experienced): £70,000

• Biomedical engineer

Job role: Biomedical engineering combines principles from biology, physics and engineering to design medical machines and equipment, ranging from prosthetics and implants to surgical robots and scanners. Those in this field often conduct research to build new products to be used in healthcare.

Route: An undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering is the traditional route, but you can still enter this field with a biology degree if you do a relevant Master’s or gain relevant experience, e.g. working as a biological technician. 

As a senior biomedical engineer working in a specialised area, e.g. bionic eyes, you could move into industry and take on managerial roles in health-tech companies. You could also work for the NHS if you complete the STP and register with the HCPC.

Average salary (experienced): £50,000

Environmental and animal care

Biologists working in the environmental and animal care sector offer immense value when it comes to tackling global challenges such as sustainability, conservation , biodiversity and restoration. Environmental scientists can help shape policies and practices aimed at preserving natural environments and safeguarding animal welfare , ensuring a better, greener world.  

Job role: Agronomists supervise agricultural operations and offer guidance to farmers on enhancing soil health and increasing crop yields. Working environments include farms, laboratories and offices. They research soil properties, fertilisers and other substances, and innovate new farming techniques.

Route: A degree in biology with exposure to agriculture is typically sufficient to secure junior positions. Some employers prefer candidates with postgraduate qualifications in certain areas, e.g. crop technology. You could move into consultancy if you become a specialist in advanced methods such as laser weeding.

• Environmental consultant

Job role: Eco consultants investigate the effects of an organisation’s activities on the climate and vice versa. They provide guidance to organisations or governmental bodies on green energy, waste management and environmental regulations. 

Route: After your biology degree, ideally with a focus on ecology, you could complete a Master’s in environmental science to maximise your chances of landing a job and reaching consultancy level quickly. The Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) may be of interest, as it offers postgraduate courses with academic and industrial research projects. With experience, you could become a chartered consultant.

Job role: Zoologists explore animals and their behaviours and may work in academia, wildlife conservation or government. They develop specialisation in one field, such as entomology (insects), ornithology (birds), herpetology (reptiles) or marine biology . Tasks vary based on the sector, but typically involve applying research methods in the field or laboratory to study animals.

Route: Aim to focus on zoology for your biology degree and gain exposure to wildlife conservation. A Master's or PhD degree can significantly enhance your prospects, particularly if you wish to conduct independent research. As you gain experience, you could manage zoology departments, become a consultant or move into environmental journalism.

Average salary (experienced): £48,000

Biology degrees provide a breadth of knowledge about all living organisms and how they interact with the world surrounding them. This, along with their critical thinking and transferable skills, make biology graduates highly employable across sectors. From analysing molecules in disease to building artificial organs or even conserving endangered species, there is no shortage of jobs involving biology .

• Explore careers | National Careers Service [Internet]. Available from: https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/explore-careers
• Biological Sciences Rankings 2024 [Internet]. The Complete University Guide. Available from: https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings/biological-sciences
• Get into teaching | Get into teaching GOV.UK [Internet]. Get Into Teaching. Available from: https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/
• Home | Advance HE [Internet]. Available from: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/
• Academic jobs - Job Opportunities - University of Cambridge [Internet]. Available from: https://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/?category=1
• NSHCS [Internet]. NSHCS. Available from: https://nshcs.hee.nhs.uk/healthcare-science/healthcare-science-specialisms-explained/
• NSHCS [Internet]. NSHCS. Available from: http://www.nshcs.hee.nhs.uk/programmes/stp
• Genetics Society. Education - genetics society [Internet]. Genetics Society. 2022. Available from: https://genetics.org.uk/careers/education/
• Institute of Analytics - The Future is Here! [Internet]. IoA - Institute of Analytics. Available from: https://ioaglobal.org/
• Get into tech: How to launch a career in IT | BCS [Internet]. Available from: https://www.bcs.org/it-careers/get-into-tech-how-to-build-a-career-in-it/
• Medical engineering [Internet]. Health Careers. 2019. Available from: https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/healthcare-science/roles-healthcare-science/physical-sciences-and-biomedical-engineering/medical-engineering
• Agronomist [Internet]. TIAH. Available from: https://beta.tiah.org/w/agronomist
• How to become an Ecologist or Environmental Manager - CIEEM [Internet]. CIEEM. 2024. Available from: https://cieem.net/i-want-to-be/how-to-become-an-eem/
• Science & Research | ZSL [Internet]. The Zoological Society of London. Available from: https://www.zsl.org/what-we-do/science-research

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This University of Utah medical school alum runs the largest biomedical research institute in the world

Dr. monica bertagnolli, director of the national institutes of health, returned to her alma mater to deliver the commencement address to 2024 class of the school of medicine.

By Marjorie Cortez

It was a full circle moment.

Dr. Monica Bertagnolli, director of the National Institutes of Health, sat on the dais Friday taking in commencement exercises for the University of Utah’s Spencer Fox School of Medicine’s class of 2024.

Thirty-nine years ago, Bertagnolli was sitting among her medical school classmates for her own medical school graduation ceremony at the University of Utah. There were fewer than 10 women in her graduating class in 1985. This year, 54% of the graduating class are women.

After medical school, Bertagnolli trained in surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and was a research fellow in tumor immunology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She is the first woman to lead the institute’s surgical oncology division.

She has been at the forefront of the field of clinical oncology. Her research focuses on the genetic mutations that lead to gastrointestinal cancer and how inflammation stimulates cancer.

Prior to her appointment as the director of the National Institutes of Health in 2023, Bertagnolli was director of the National Cancer Institute. NIH is the largest biomedical research institute in the world. It has 27 institutes and centers and has an annual budget of more than $47 billion.

Bertagnolli, who delivered the commencement address, reflected on significant advances in the treatments for hemophilia and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS, since she graduated from medical school.

“We celebrate that for a disease that was formerly highly debilitating and sometimes lethal, the life expectancy for people in the United States with hemophilia is now equal to that of the general population and we can now entertain the possibility of a cure,” she said.

In the early 1980s, when Bertagnolli started medical school, an AIDS diagnosis “was considered a death sentence,” she said.

“We did not know what to do to treat it or how to prevent its spread,” she said.

It wasn’t until the mid-1980s that a blood test to detect the human immunodeficiency virus was widely available in the United States.

Despite public health campaigns intended to contain HIV spread, new diagnoses and fatalities rapidly escalated in the United States and around the world.

“In June 1995, the FDA approved the first protease inhibitor targeting HIV replication and just six months later came the first combination regimen targeting viral replication. ... AIDS diagnoses and deaths began to fall almost immediately,” she said.

Treatments have continued to advance with the development of antiretroviral and pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, drugs.

“As a result, mortality rates for those infected with HIV have now approached that of the general population,” Bertagnolli said.

While there have been many advances in medical science over the years and new tools at researchers’ disposal, many challenges remain to develop treatments and perhaps cures for diseases that continue to vex researchers.

For example, some 35 million people in the United States suffer from rare diseases, many of which are tied to mutation of a single gene, Bertagnolli said.

“How do we scale the development of gene therapy to meet the needs of those with rare diseases? If we succeed, how do we pay for this? This is the hope that so many have been looking for and we can’t let them down,” she said.

Today’s researchers have exciting tools that help increase the pace of developing treatments or vaccines, she said.

One significant technological advance has been the electronic health record, which has had broad adoption across the country.

“It’s a way when each of us goes to see a doctor, it has information about us, what happened, what our health was, how we were treated and that gets recorded. One of the things we’re working on at the NIH and across all of the Health and Human Services Department is to develop ways where we can use the information coming from the electronic health record and every clinical visit as a way of improving health,” she said.

Online shoppers are keenly aware that e-commerce merchants track their purchases. “They know exactly who we are and what we’re interested in,” she said.

Medical researchers can use that same technology in a respectful way, with people’s permission, “which I also am pretty passionate about. I don’t think we should be doing research with people’s health information unless we have their direct permission. So with people’s permission, it’s being able to use this technology to benefit everyone,” said Bertagnolli, who grew up on a ranch in southwest Wyoming and earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Princeton University.

Trust plays a significant role in use of the data and encouraging patients to try new treatments or vaccines.

During the pandemic, some people balked at vaccination, which Bertagnolli said was understandable considering the pandemic’s disruption of people’s lives, concerns that some people who were vaccinated still got COVID-19, and medical science’s evolving understanding of the virus.

Even though some people contracted COVID-19 after vaccination, they tended to have milder cases. The vaccines also provide relief for some patients with “long COVID.”

But deciding whether to get vaccinated is personal.

“I wouldn’t want to go to somebody who really really really didn’t want to take a vaccine and try and convince them otherwise. That’s just not appropriate. People get to decide based on whatever their belief systems are, what is right for them. That’s their decision. But what I would do instead is really try to get their trust for other things,” she said.

“‘Are there other things that you that can directly benefit from, that you can be a research partner for?’ We certainly don’t build trust by preaching to people or giving out public service announcements. We build trust by being present, being respectful and helping people get what they need. Research that meets the needs of the individual people, that really delivers for them, is going to build this trust.”

Microsoft Research Blog

Gigapath: whole-slide foundation model for digital pathology.

Published May 22, 2024

By Hoifung Poon , General Manager, Health Futures Naoto Usuyama , Principal Researcher

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The confluence of digital transformation in biomedicine and the current generative AI revolution creates an unprecedented opportunity for drastically accelerating progress in precision health. Digital pathology is emblematic of this exciting frontier. In cancer care, whole-slide imaging has become routinely available, which transforms a microscopy slide of tumor tissue into a high-resolution digital image. Such whole-slide images contain key information for deciphering the tumor microenvironment, which is critical for precision immunotherapy (for example differentiating hot versus cold tumors based on lymphocyte infiltration). Digital pathology can also be combined with other multimodal, longitudinal patient information in multimodal generative AI for scaling population-level, real-world evidence generation. 

This is an exciting time, tempered by the reality that digital pathology poses unique computational challenges, as a standard gigapixel slide may be thousands of times larger than typical natural images in both width and length. Conventional vision transformers struggle with such an enormous size as computation for self-attention grows dramatically with the input length. Consequently, prior work in digital pathology often ignores the intricate interdependencies across image tiles in each slide, thus missing important slide-level context for key applications such as modeling the tumor microenvironment. 

In this blog post, we introduce GigaPath (opens in new tab) , a novel vision transformer that attains whole-slide modeling by leveraging dilated self-attention to keep computation tractable. In joint work with Providence Health System and the University of Washington, we have developed Prov-GigaPath (opens in new tab) , an open-access whole-slide pathology foundation model pretrained on more than one billion 256 X 256 pathology images tiles in more than 170,000 whole slides from real-world data at Providence.  All computation was conducted within Providence’s private tenant, approved by Providence Institutional Review Board (IRB).  

To our knowledge, this is the first whole-slide foundation model for digital pathology with large-scale pretraining on real-world data. Prov-GigaPath attains state-of-the-art performance on standard cancer classification and pathomics tasks, as well as vision-language tasks. This demonstrates the importance of whole-slide modeling on large-scale real-world data and opens new possibilities to advance patient care and accelerate clinical discovery.

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Adapting dilated attention and LongNet to digital pathology

GigaPath adopts two-stage curriculum learning comprising tile-level pretraining using DINOv2 and slide-level pretraining using masked autoencoder with LongNet (see Figure 1). DINOv2 is a standard self-supervision method that combines contrastive loss and masked reconstruction loss in training teacher and student vision transformers. However, due to the computational challenge for self-attention, its application is limited to small images such as 256 × 256 tiles. For slide-level modeling, we adapt dilated attention from LongNet to digital pathology (see Figure 2). To handle the long sequence of image tiles for a whole slide, we introduce a series of increasing sizes for subdividing the tile sequence into segments of the given size. For larger segments, we introduce sparse attention with sparsity proportional to segment length, thus canceling out the quadratic growth. The largest segment would cover the entire slide, though with sparsely subsampled self-attention. This enables us to capture long-range dependencies in a systematic way while maintaining tractability in computation (linear in context length).

GigaPath on cancer classification and pathomics tasks

We construct a digital pathology benchmark comprising nine cancer subtyping tasks and 17 pathomics tasks, using both Providence and TCGA data. With large-scale pretraining and whole-slide modeling, Prov-GigaPath attains state-of-the-art performance on 25 out of 26 tasks, with significant improvement over the second-best model on 18 tasks.

On cancer subtyping, the goal is to classify fine-grained subtypes based on the pathology slide. For example, for ovarian cancer, the model needs to differentiate among six subtypes: Clear Cell Ovarian Cancer, Endometrioid Ovarian Cancer, High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer, Low-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer, Mucinous Ovarian Cancer, and Ovarian Carcinosarcoma. Prov-GigaPath attained state-of-the-art performance in all nine tasks, with significant improvement over the second best in six out of nine tasks (see Figure 3). For six cancer types (breast, kidney, liver, brain, ovarian, central nervous system), Prov-GigaPath attains an AUROC of 90% or higher. This bodes well for downstream applications in precision health such as cancer diagnostics and prognostics. 

On pathomics tasks, the goal is to classify whether the tumor exhibits specific clinically relevant genetic mutations based on the slide image alone. This may uncover meaningful connections between tissue morphology and genetic pathways that are too subtle to be picked up by human observation. Aside from a few well-known pairs of specific cancer type and gene mutations, it is unclear how much signal there exists from the slide alone. Moreover, in some experiments, we consider the pan-cancer scenario, where we are trying to identify universal signals for a gene mutation across all cancer types and very diverse tumor morphologies. In such challenging scenarios, Prov-GigaPath once again attained state-of-the-art performance in 17 out of 18 tasks, significantly outperforming the second best in 12 out of 18 tasks (see Figure 4). For example, in the pan-cancer 5-gene analysis, Prov-GigaPath outperformed the best competing methods by 6.5% in AUROC and 18.7% in AUPRC. We also conducted head-to-head comparison on TCGA data to assess the generalizability of Prov-GigaPath and found that Prov-GigaPath similarly outperformed all competing methods there. This is all the more remarkable given that the competing methods were all pretrained on TCGA. That Prov-Gigapath can extract genetically linked pan-cancer and subtype-specific morphological features at the whole-slide level highlights the biological relevance of the underlying learned embeddings, and opens the door to using real-world data for future research directions around the complex biology of the tumor microenvironment. 

GigaPath on vision-language tasks

We further demonstrate the potential of GigaPath on vision-language tasks by incorporating the pathology reports. Prior work on pathology vision-language pretraining tends to focus on small images at the tile level. We instead explore slide-level vision-language pretraining. By continuing pretraining on slide-report pairs, we can leverage the report semantics to align the pathology slide representation, which can be used for downstream prediction tasks without supervised fine-tuning (e.g., zero-shot subtyping). Specifically, we use Prov-GigaPath as the whole-slide image encoder and PubMedBERT as the text encoder, and conduct contrastive learning using the slide-report pairs. This is considerably more challenging than traditional vision-language pretraining, as we do not have fine-grained alignment information between individual image tiles and text snippets. Prov-GigaPath substantially outperforms three state-of-the-art pathology vision-language models in standard vision-language tasks, such as zero-shot cancer subtyping and gene mutation prediction, demonstrating the potential for Prov-GigaPath in whole-slide vision-language modeling (see Figure 5).

GigaPath is a promising step toward multimodal generative AI for precision health

We have conducted thorough ablation studies to establish the best practices in whole-slide pretraining and vision-language modeling. We also observed early indications of the scaling law in digital pathology, where larger-scale pretraining generally improved downstream performance, although our experiments were still limited due to computational constraints.

Going forward, there are many opportunities for progress. Prov-GigaPath attained state-of-the-art performance compared to prior best models, but there is still significant growth space in many downstream tasks. While we have conducted initial exploration on pathology vision-language pretraining, there is still a long way to go to pursue the potential of a multimodal conversational assistant, specifically by incorporating advanced multimodal frameworks such as LLaVA-Med (opens in new tab) . Most importantly, we have yet to explore the impact of GigaPath and whole-slide pretraining in many key precision health tasks such as modeling tumor microenvironment and predicting treatment response.

GigaPath is joint work with Providence Health System and the University of Washington’s Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, and brings collaboration from multiple teams within Microsoft*. It reflects Microsoft’s larger commitment on advancing multimodal generative AI for precision health, with exciting progress in other digital pathology research collaborations such as Cyted (opens in new tab) , Volastra (opens in new tab) , and Paige (opens in new tab) as well as other technical advances such as BiomedCLIP (opens in new tab) , LLaVA-Rad (opens in new tab) , BiomedJourney (opens in new tab) , BiomedParse (opens in new tab) , MAIRA (opens in new tab) , Rad-DINO (opens in new tab) , Virchow (opens in new tab) . 

(Acknowledgment footnote) *: Within Microsoft, it is a wonderful collaboration among Health Futures, MSRA, MSR Deep Learning, and Nuance. Paper co-authors: Hanwen Xu, Naoto Usuyama, Jaspreet Bagga, Sheng Zhang, Rajesh Rao, Tristan Naumann, Cliff Wong, Zelalem Gero, Javier Gonz ́alez, Yu Gu, Yanbo Xu, Mu Wei, Wenhui Wang, Shuming Ma, Furu Wei, Jianwei Yang, Chunyuan Li, Jianfeng Gao, Jaylen Rosemon, Tucker Bower, Soohee Lee, Roshanthi Weerasinghe, Bill J. Wright, Ari Robicsek, Brian Piening, Carlo Bifulco, Sheng Wang, Hoifung Poon. 

Related publications

Llava-med: training a large language-and-vision assistant for biomedicine in one day, maira-1: a specialised large multimodal model for radiology report generation, longnet: scaling transformers to 1,000,000,000 tokens, biomedjourney: counterfactual biomedical image generation by instruction-learning from multimodal patient journeys, meet the authors.

Hoifung Poon

General Manager, Health Futures

Naoto Usuyama

Principal Researcher

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