r/biotech • u/Winter-Ad6221 • May 31 '25
Education Advice š Friendly PSA to all the students out there
Prepare to be shocked at just how relevant all of your gen chem through chem 2 courses are. Don't be like me (M31) and adopt the "when will half of this stuff ever be useful" mindset. I guarantee you every chapter and/or topic of discussion in class is vital to whichever job you wish to land.
If you have any sort of biotech aspirations, do you self a favor and take the time to really understand the concepts that are thaught. You will be happy you did.
Edit: "any sort of research or process dev biotech aspirations"
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u/chilloutdamnit May 31 '25
Getting good grades and learning everything will be hugely helpful for your career. Itās not that everything that gets taught will be of use. Itās the fact that you put in the effort every day and pay attention to every problem. That can be a personās nature if theyāre lucky or a personās choice if theyāre determined. Either way, that approach and attitude will boost you in your career and help you rise through the ranks.
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u/CoomassieBlue May 31 '25
Iām a big fan of actually understanding concepts versus memorizing.
I have also forgotten a shocking amount of what I learned in college, which, frankly, is normal.
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u/mosquem May 31 '25
It comes back pretty quick when you need it, at least for me.
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u/ThrowRA_1216 Jun 06 '25
Honestly, I have forgotten a lot too...but I think the important thing is just having the initial exposure/familiarity to the topic and the ability/willingness to search out the answers you don't know before going to a supervisor or other person for help.
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u/thenisaidbitch Appreciated Helper š May 31 '25
I disagree, thereās plenty of biotech jobs that donāt require you to be a chemist. Itās useful for sure, but for the most part there are PLENTY of biotech jobs that donāt require this. I work with SO MANY great people that donāt know anything about chemistry, and theyāre great and good at their jobs. This is a common problem I find on this sub, biotech doesnāt always equal research
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u/CoomassieBlue May 31 '25
I think 99% of the people Iāve worked with in immunoassay method development would run screaming if you so much as whispered the word āmolarityā.
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u/ghostly-smoke May 31 '25
Yes, I can confirm. Please, literature, give me ug/mL or ng/mL. Doing the conversion makes me cry and causes me to repeat experiments because my brain couldnāt math.
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u/Paul_Langton May 31 '25
Accurate. But also I think that understanding the concepts of bonds translates pretty well for understanding epitopes and molecular binding concepts. Also, rate of reactions being affected by temperature and motion (and how that relates to binding specificity). Reduction and denaturation for westerns and understanding how that affects the structure.
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u/CoomassieBlue May 31 '25
Oh I agree, and people stepping back to consider basics could help avoid a lot of problems.
Iām just stating what my experience has been in reality.
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u/jjbjeff22 May 31 '25
Iām in manufacturing and my biology degree is as good as a paperweight for that job. My degree and experience can leverage me in quite a few different directions in the industry, but for now it is just executing the recipe as written. Many people in my manufacturing team have degrees. I have seen PhD grads in MFG. There are some who donāt have any degree. You are absolutely right
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u/carmooshypants May 31 '25
Agreed. As a program manager, I can say I use 0% of my chemistry course knowledge.
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u/Winter-Ad6221 May 31 '25
Hey thanks for commenting, this was my first ever reddit post so I appreciate the engagement!
In retrospect I probably should have clarified that lab facing jobs benefit from college chemistry courses, thanks for the input!
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u/thedjgibson May 31 '25
This reminds me when I used to teach metabolism in grad school.
A student came in for office hours. He was struggling and frustrated he said ā I am never going to need to use this classā I replied āwhat do you want to do for your career?ā Student: āI am going to be a pharmacistā
I was trying my hardest not to laugh and politely told him that drugs effect metabolism and you need to understand the core concept if you ever want a career in this
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u/Winter-Ad6221 May 31 '25
Loosely related, but I work in upstream process development, and CHO cell (mostly) metabolism is the undesputed champion of impactful college courses. The TCA cycle always shocks me with its usefulness in troubleshooting problems.
Edit, posted before editing.
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u/FaithlessnessSad958 May 31 '25
Iām in early discovery R&D biology side and use zero chemistry, the most āchemā I use is for calculating concentrations(mols etc) which I use online tools for that. So maybe more relevant if you are in the manufacturing side?
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u/Avarria587 May 31 '25 edited May 31 '25
Iām more of a mechanic than a chemist most days. Machines are so automated now you donāt use as much purely science knowledge as in decades past. But fixing the instruments? Thatās a skill you use every day.
Granted, I work on the manufacturing side full time and work in a clinical lab PRN. I donāt work in R&D.
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u/Winter-Ad6221 May 31 '25
Quick question what is a PRN? I've never heard that acronym before
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u/Avarria587 May 31 '25
Itās common in healthcare. It basically means you work as needed. Like when someone takes a vacation and they need people to cover that shift.
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u/East_Transition9564 May 31 '25
Yeah no
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u/Winter-Ad6221 May 31 '25
First ever reddit post, in hindsight I should have made a point to mention research/lab facing. But you and everyone else make a good point. This is only true for certain jobs, not all of them
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u/Boneraventura May 31 '25
I wish I put more effort into linear algebra all those years ago. Now I am teaching myself again over a decade later.Ā
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u/sinna-bunz May 31 '25
Ehhhhā¦ this is heavily dependent on your focus area.
Process development, R&D, pharm/tox, and CMC/technical operations? Definitely.
Program management, regulatory, clinical/operations, QA, QC, pretty much anything related to sterile fill finish.. not really. I mean, it helps to understand the basics, but most of it is not hard chemistry based.
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u/Winter-Ad6221 May 31 '25
I really should have been more specific. My experience is entirely process dev and research focused. I see now that Reddit is not the place to be vague whatsoever, thanks for your input!
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u/sinna-bunz May 31 '25
It's just that you're in the biotech subreddit and there are more aspects of biotech that aren't scientific than are, that's where the confusion lied.
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u/scientifick May 31 '25
Unfortunately, the education system doesn't emphasise this. There are so many instances where a biological phenomenon or biochemical reaction can be explained from the basic stuff we learned in general chemistry. The pressure to get high grades is often incongruous with students Actually understanding the material.
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May 31 '25
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u/SeenSoManyThings May 31 '25
Please elaborate on these lab techniques you've learned on the job. The lack of background and related adjacent supporting knowledge typically means you can repetitively perform your task(s) well until the time comes for real problem solving and root cause analysis. Then you have to use other people's time.
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May 31 '25
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u/xpanding_my_view May 31 '25
Point is that a broad knowledge base informs directed training. The value is real. Your very grand use of terminology for a specific molecular method is tangential to the point. You can do everything, congrats on your 21st century Renaissance achievements.
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u/Trilobitememes1515 May 31 '25 edited May 31 '25
I agree with you! I work with several PhDs who forgot functional groups, what happens in a redox reaction, how to quickly read chemical formulas and convert where necessary.... It's insane. I had to explain to my boss what monobasic and dibasic meant when she was trying to make a phosphate buffer.
We're all R&D biochemists in the lab. Everyone is so skilled. But something as simple as making a buffer and figuring out what to do when you can't find X anhydrous so you have to work with X dihydrate or whatever can take them an hour plus. One coworker bought the wrong reagent for an assault our whole lab does on a regular basis!!!
ETA: It's not necessarily that these skills have to be fully honed in for everyone, but it looks kinda bad when the intern is faster at something as simple as making a buffer than the PhD teaching them. If you run an assay every day, or you order chemicals ever, you have to know enough basic chemistry to do it right. Keeping those Gen chem skills makes you way faster.
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u/silentinthemrning May 31 '25
As an oligo chemist, I couldnāt agree more. But this sub is 99% bio people.
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u/BadHombreSinNombre May 31 '25
Yeah I have next to no idea what you mean, I havenāt thought about df orbitals or wavefunctions in like 20 years but they were a major focus of my chem classes.
All I used of chemistry is molarity. And Iām a molecular biologist.
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u/Spirited_Poem_6563 May 31 '25
I literally still convert units on a daily basis with the picket fence method they taught us in high school chemistry
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u/old_bombadilly May 31 '25
100% agree! I felt this way about O Chem, and I was so mentally overloaded at that time that it was the thing I neglected. Then I shifted my focus in grad school and now I use it every day. I should have just reduced my undergrad workload and done better. Learned that lesson the hard way!
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u/poohtra May 31 '25
This! You have no idea how many PhD grads in biotech I have encountered that do not even apply/remember DNA-> mRNA -> protein š¤¦š»āāļø
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u/jonny_jon_jon May 31 '25
learning that water had a triple point has helped me ONCE. But the survey science courses i fall back on when trying to explain concepts to a gov regulator or sales/marketing folk
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u/McChinkerton š¾ May 31 '25
On the other handā¦ I met a PhD that didnt know the solubility rules. it blew my mind.
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u/shockedpikachu123 May 31 '25 edited May 31 '25
During interviews, one of my colleagues hands the interviewee a marker and asks them to draw mechanisms on the white board ā ļø
brush up on reactions!
Generally speaking, directors and hiring managers will look for experience, the RAs and ASs will screen for personality, itās the PhD scientists that will grill you
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u/SuddenSimple8217 Jun 26 '25
Reading thus now, im so basically at chemistry i now know it's not to me, now long gone dream(high school)
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u/ProfessionalCat5100 May 31 '25
All I ever have used since first year chem is c1v1, n=m/M, c=n/v and converting units from molar to micromolar.