Will “Biotechnician” be Automated?

Core Skills & Abilities

• Write computer programs or scripts to be used in querying databases.

• Confer with researchers, clinicians, or information technology staff to determine data needs and programming requirements and to provide assistance with database-related research activities.

• Train bioinformatics staff or researchers in the use of databases.

• Confer with database users about project timelines and changes.

• Monitor database performance and perform any necessary maintenance, upgrades, or repairs.

• Participate in the preparation of reports or scientific publications.

• Analyze or manipulate bioinformatics data using software packages, statistical applications, or data mining techniques.

• Extend existing software programs, web-based interactive tools, or database queries as sequence management and analysis needs evolve.

• Test new or updated software or tools and provide feedback to developers.

• Develop or apply data mining and machine learning algorithms.

• Conduct quality analyses of data inputs and resulting analyses or predictions.

• Create data management or error-checking procedures and user manuals.

• Maintain awareness of new and emerging computational methods and technologies.

• Package bioinformatics data for submission to public repositories.

• Document all database changes, modifications, or problems.

• Enter or retrieve information from structural databases, protein sequence motif databases, mutation databases, genomic databases or gene expression databases.

• Develop or maintain applications that process biologically based data into searchable databases for purposes of analysis, calculation, or presentation.

• Perform routine system administrative functions, such as troubleshooting, back-ups, or upgrades.

• Design or implement web-based tools for querying large-scale biological databases.