Biochemistry
A degree in biochemistry can lead to a diverse range of employment and postgraduate study opportunities.
A good number of students commit to scientific careers in areas as varied as agriculture, animal health, biotechnology, consumer goods, drug discovery, diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, healthcare science, epidemiology, food, informatics, technical supplies, scientific publishing, medical and pharmaceutical sales and much more.
Many others decide to look at jobs outside of science and enter a diverse range of roles ranging from law, finance, public relations, teaching, and charity work.
What are the range of careers I could enter?
Job roles and companies
Job roles
- Audit trainee
- Business analyst
- Food analyst
- Laboratory analyst
- Medical laboratory analyst
- Pharmacovigilance services
- Police constable
- Technical assistant
- Trainee cellular pathologist
Companies
- Covance Clinical
- Eurofins
- KPMG
- ITH Pharma
- Marcus Evans
- Medicines and healthcare products regulatory agency
- Northamptonshire Constabulary
- Orchid Cellmark
- Royal Stoke University Hospital
- Young’s Seafood
What skills will I gain during my degree?
As well as the skills developed on your course, participation in extracurricular and work experience, organisations large and small are also looking for students to have developed a range of attributes such as the following while at university. What employers seek from candidates is evolving all the time and it is important that you keep up to date with recruitment trends in the career areas that interest you.
- Collaboration
- Relationship building
- Initiative
- Resilience
- Adaptability
- Influencing online and in person
- Business appropriate communication
- Self-motivation
- Career management
What are my further study options?
Postgraduate study
A wide range of postgraduate degree programmes have been undertaken by recent students such as in:
- Graduate Entry to Medicine (GEM)
- Physicians Associate
- MRes Biochemistry
- Molecular Cell Biology
- Doctoral Training Programmes
- Nano Technology
- Chemistry
- Oncology
- Regenerative Medicine
- Drug Discovery
- Pharmacology
- Human Computer Interaction
- PGCE
- Virology
Working as a Healthcare Scientist in the NHS
According to the Association of Clinical Scientists, there are two branches of science in hospitals – Clinical Science and Biomedical Science. Both careers result in state registration with the HCPC (Health Care Professions Council). The Clinical Scientist has a clinical interpretative role while the Biomedical Scientist is more laboratory based.
Becoming a Clinical Scientist
The most direct route to become a clinical scientist is to participate in the STP (Scientific Training programme) The STP is open for applications in the January of your graduating year and placements commence in September. For further information on how to become a clinical scientist, please look at the NHS careers website for more information and the National School for Healthcare Science website.
The Association of Clinical Scientists lists professional bodies related to specific modality.
Becoming a Biomedical Scientist
It is likely that your undergraduate degree is not an accredited IBMS (Institute of Biomedical Science) degree. To become a Biomedical Scientist as a graduate and gain HCPC accreditation you will need to do two activities, one, undertake top-up modules required by the Institute of Biomedical Science at IBMS accredited universities. For more information, please visit the IBMS website and two, to gain HCPC accreditation, you will also need to complete an IBMS Registration Training Portfolio at an IBMS registered Laboratory. These laboratories tend to be located in the NHS. Look at NHS Jobs and put in the search engine Trainee BMS.
Can I use an IBMS accredited master’s degree to meet HCPC education standards for registration?
No, an IBMS accredited postgraduate degree does not count towards the academic requirements for HCPC registration, but does meet the requirements for registration with the Science Council as a Chartered Scientist (CSci).
The pharmaceutical sector
The pharmaceutical sector is not all about large pharmaceutical companies, the industry has a large and growing number of small and medium sized companies involved in life science research, drug
development and biotechnology.
Explore jobs in the sector
These organisations are less visible to graduates as they often do not advertise graduate programmes and often employ people with PhD-level qualifications.
A list (not exhaustive) of small, medium and large companies can be found at:
BioPharmGuy
Explore more...