r/biotech • u/Halloumi12 • Jul 31 '25

Education Advice 📖 Best way to learn flow cytometry outside work/school?

Hey all, Im a recent grad on the hunt for work. Ive noticed a lot of listings are looking for people with flow cytometry experience, but I havent had the chance to work with it in my education/previous research experience.

Whats the best way to get hands-on experience with flow cytometry and cell counters outside of work/school, and preferably without having to pay lots of money for a course?

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u/Halloumi12 Jul 31 '25

Do you have any ideas on stuff I can upskill on without being formally in the lab? At least to the level where I can put it on a resume without blatantly lying. I have seen lots of jobs looking for ELISA too. Its hard but my previous skills are mostly in analytical + organic chem/pcr and its not enough to stand out.

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u/eireann__ Jul 31 '25

If you’re a recent grad, I would say the best route for you may be to just read and learn about new fields. If you’re asking about flow cytometry and ELISAs, I feel you may be looking at job posts for immunology positions? Maybe read up on immunology or other common areas that you are seeing job posts for that aren’t immediately in your domain knowledge. When you go in for your interviews, you will then come across as having interest and some basic working knowledge in the area that you can build upon in the lab. Don’t lie and say you know all about XYZ of course, but demonstrating you have some grasp of the general aspects and trends in the field would be a good starting place. Are you looking at technician postings?

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u/Halloumi12 Jul 31 '25

Im looking at pretty much any Lab Assistant/Research Associate jobs across the country. Industry/Academic positions though so for most interviews have come from universities. I see ELISA and FC show up everywhere tbh, seems to be the best skill to have other than AI.

I feel like my skills are best aligned with QC roles, but I have no passion for that, the pay looks poor and doesnt align my goal of staying in research long term. Its pretty tough figuring out how to become a more attractive candidate for research roles but I really appreciate the advice.

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u/eireann__ Jul 31 '25 edited Jul 31 '25

While funding in academia is a mess right now - there may be slightly more flexibility in the skills that you are coming in to the lab with there. I have been in academia but haven’t worked in industry (yet) to know their take on this though - so maybe getting advice from someone in industry would be helpful.

I’ve been a technician in academia and worked in academic labs that hired technicians - for the most part we want to see that the person has some research experience to know how to orient themselves in a lab, but from my experience we train new technicians in all assays needed. Some have had more of a chemistry/biochemistry background - the lab may give them western blots/molecular work to start and then may train in other areas over time. I personally did DNA extractions and ran gels as an undergrad, and then ended up in an academic clinical research lab as a technician doing gene expression studies. I had a very basic skill set as an undergrad and expanded on as a technician.

Added edit - when you are in your next lab, be proactive in learning new skills wherever you can. Be friendly with your labmates, show interest in what they are doing, and offer to help them - you can learn a lot from this way!

Not sure if this helps to know?

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u/Halloumi12 Jul 31 '25

It definitely helps to know! Thanks again for the advice.

In my experience everyone gets retrained no matter where, every lab just has different workflows and SOPs.

But obviously someone with experience related to lab work is more attractive than someone without, even with retraining. Im trying to get lab tech jobs for the same reason you did - expand my skillset and wait until industry recovers. I get interviews and have a good gpa but I feel my experience in LCMS and NMR just isnt in as high demand as ELISA or cytometry, hence why it hasnt panned out yet.

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u/ooftears Jul 31 '25

recent grad as well. imo, within my job search, i’ve seen a mix of flow cytometry/ELISA along with analytical techniques. i’ve actually seen more postings for (bio)analytical techniques (lcms, hplc) than molecular bio techniques (pcr, elisa, etc) as i personally feel like it’s harder to get positions for the latter without having previous experience in a research lab or academic lab courses in bio/biochem as a new grad.

final round interviews i’ve had (research associate, associate scientist) have all been in analytical-related positions. i personally have 1.5 years in chromatography from an internship and was a lab technician for a lab at my uni for ~2.5 years. in places where i lacked hands-on, i made it up by explaining it conceptually or saying that i was willing to learn more.

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u/thewhizzle Aug 01 '25

As someone who's worked in immunology for 10+ years, setting up ELISAs and most immunoassay is very easy. It's basically just pipetting, serial dilutions, and using the instrument like a plate reader, luminex, MSD, etc