Best Online Master’s in Biotechnology Programs

Biotech tools can be used to discover and develop drugs that can treat different illnesses. By screening genes and proteins for therapeutic potential, pharmaceutical product specialists can identify more promising candidates for further research.

Other job titles: Formulation scientist, analytical chemist

Quality control and quality assurance are critical to establishing credibility in biotech advancement. Quality assurance specialists make sure policies and procedures are implemented and followed in operations. In this role, you’ll provide guidance and set internal quality standards.

Other job titles: Quality compliance manager, design quality engineer

Biotech manufacturing roles involve overseeing the manufacturing processes to check for efficiency and quality. In manufacturing roles, you’ll likely represent the company in meetings with business clients. You might also develop reports on overall manufacturing quality.

Other job titles: Biotech manufacturing supervisor, external manufacturing analyst

This career pathway is at the intersection of law, economics, and biotech. As a regulatory affairs officer, you’ll use strategies to comply with regulatory bodies such as the FDA. You’ll keep track of products through stages of development and be responsible for completing paperwork to pass regulatory agency inspections.

If you have an entrepreneurial mindset, consider going into marketing and sales, particularly business-to-business sales. In marketing roles, you’ll need to produce informative and persuasive content by demonstrating a product’s value and how it works.

Patent lawyers and agents are essential in the biotechnology industry since companies want to protect their intellectual property. Legal counsel for employment law, marketing and distribution compliance, and healthcare products are also critical.

An information technology career in biotech will involve organizing, storing, and analyzing biological data. As an IT professional in biotech, you might develop applications to store and manage information.

Other job titles: Computer scientist, cloud engineer, full-stack developer

Also known as agritech, concentrating in agricultural biotech will teach you the fundamentals of ecological biotechnology. You’ll learn about plant engineering, genetics, crop science, and food science.

Possible courses: Plant breeding methods, biology of plant pathogens, molecular genetics

Biodefense is the intersection of biotechnology and national defense. You’ll study bioethics and bioterrorism and be prepared to contribute to national security by combating chemical and biological threats. You’ll study infectious disease, vaccinology, threat response, and forensics. You’ll also likely take coursework in science, as well as policy, in biodefense.

With a concentration in bioinformatics, you’ll learn how to leverage computer technology to collect and analyze biological information. You’ll study how to use computational tools to analyze data such as genetics, cells, and molecules.

Possible courses: Relational database systems, advanced bioinformatics, Java for biotechnology applications

Molecular biotechnology leverages molecular biology and biotech towards the progression of chemical and textile manufacturing, agriculture, and food processing. This concentration focuses on the transfer of genetic information.

Possible courses: Molecular genetics, stem cell biology, DNA methods

Process science refers to biological manufacturing processes. You’ll explore biochemical engineering, mammalian cell culture process development, and protein purification.

Possible courses: Bioprocess fundamentals, downstream processes for biopharmaceutical production

With this specialization, you’ll learn about quality control in biotech operations to facilitate the research, development, and manufacturing process of biomedical products.

Possible courses: Microbiology, sterile manufacturing operations, drug safety and immunogenicity

In this concentration, you’ll learn about manufacturing and discovery of biopharmaceuticals. You’ll study the biological and chemical mechanisms that create biological products and their impact on the safety and efficacy of the resulting product.

Possible courses: Biochemical engineering, biostatistics, pharmacology

Pharmaceutical technology focuses on the drug manufacturing process. You’ll learn about materials used in biopharmaceutical product design and development. You’ll also study the conversion of proteins into drug products.

Possible courses: Vaccines and immunizations, molecular tools for vaccine design

In this concentration, you’ll learn how to apply data science to biotechnology. You’ll focus on the collection and analysis of large scientific data sets.

Possible courses: Introduction to data mining and machine learning, big data for cities, information analysis

This concentration focuses on regulatory compliance. You’ll study regulatory affairs about biological processes, cGMP compliance, international food regulations, and ethical, legal, and regulatory elements of a biotechnology enterprise. You’ll also learn about the regulation of pharmaceuticals and medical devices.

This concentration will give you entrepreneurial and leadership skills to prepare you to manage the business aspects of biotech. You’ll learn about intellectual property in biotechnology, finance, regulatory affairs, and project management. You’ll also study funding options and problem-solving.

Possible courses: Managing a biotechnology company, biotechnology project management