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Job Title: Lab Tech
Type of Company: I work in a cardiovascular biology lab.
Education: BA, College of Wooster •• MPH, Boston University
Previous Experience: This was my first job out of college.
Job Tasks: I lend support to research in the basic science behind cardiovascular disease, the number one cause of death in the United States. I organized and triage requests for surgical and other laboratory services from a core of principal investigators, who focus on cardiovascular research and analyze the effects of inducing atherosclerosis in different types of genetically manipulated mice.
I basically do surgery on mice. I insert a wire up their femoral arteries in their hind limbs in order to remove the inner layer of cells. This causes an inflammatory/repair response in the mice, which we study in mutant strains. I then sacrifice the mice and harvest the femoral artery. The tissue gets processed and embedded in wax so that it can be sliced and put on slides. These slides are then chemically stained so that different parts of the tissue appear in different colors. For instance, hematoxylin stains the nuclei. We also have stains for collagen and elastin. We then take digital photographs of the slides and analyze their area and perimeter using an image analysis program.
The point of all this is to learn more about the responses to arterial damage which may lead to a better understanding of heart disease.
Best and Worst Parts of the Job: It is very repetitive. It is also kind of dry. You pretty much just do what your boss asks you to do, and it's usually the same thing over and over again. But the best part is working in an environment with lots of students and young people who are fun and awesome people. It's also fairly laid back.
Job Tips: I haven't actually been able to achieve what I want to do yet. This is not my "career." It is a job. So do well in school and take biological science classes. I wasn't even trying to get a job like this; I just fell into it. A lab tech is a fairly basic entry level job.
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