Top 12 Biologist Skills to Put on Your Resume

Crafting an impressive biologist resume means showing the right mix of lab precision, data fluency, and field savvy. Below you’ll find 12 core skills that signal real capability—tools and techniques that translate into results at the bench, in silico, and beyond.

Biologist Skills

1. PCR
2. Microscopy
3. Bioinformatics
4. ELISA
5. Flow Cytometry
6. CRISPR
7. Gel Electrophoresis
8. R (Statistics)
9. Python (Programming)
10. NGS (Next-Generation Sequencing)
11. HPLC (High-Performance Liquid Chromatography)
12. Mass Spectrometry

1. PCR

PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) amplifies selected DNA sequences for downstream analysis, from cloning to diagnostics to environmental DNA studies. Variants like qPCR and digital PCR open the door to precise quantification.

Why It's Important

PCR lets you detect tiny amounts of genetic material with speed and specificity. It underpins pathogen detection, genotyping, gene expression analysis, and rapid validation work that keeps projects moving.

How to Improve PCR Skills

Sharpen your PCR outcomes with targeted tweaks:

1. Primer design: Ensure target specificity, matched melting temperatures, minimal secondary structures, and avoid SNPs at the 3′ end. Validate in silico.
2. Magnesium and additives: Start around 1.5–2.5 mM MgCl2. For GC-rich templates, trial DMSO (1–8%) or betaine.
3. Annealing temperature: Run a gradient PCR to dial in specificity and yield.
4. Template quality: Use clean, intact DNA. Check A260/280, remove inhibitors, and quantify accurately.
5. Hot-start enzymes: Reduce nonspecific amplification and primer dimers.
6. Cycling discipline: Right cycle count, correct extension time, and adequate denaturation—no more, no less.
7. Controls: Include no-template and positive controls; track contamination ruthlessly.

How to Display PCR Skills on Your Resume

2. Microscopy

Microscopy reveals the invisible—cells, organelles, microbes—by bending light (or electrons) to your will. From brightfield and phase contrast to confocal and super-resolution, it’s the window that keeps widening.

Why It's Important

Seeing structure and behavior in situ changes the questions you ask. It’s the difference between guessing and knowing—localization, dynamics, interactions, morphology, all in crisp detail.

How to Improve Microscopy Skills

Push clarity and confidence in your images:

1. Resolution boosters: Use confocal, deconvolution, or super-resolution methods (e.g., SIM, STORM) when the biology demands finer detail.
2. Contrast without harm: For live cells, lean on phase contrast or DIC; minimize phototoxicity with low light and short exposures.
3. Fluorescence finesse: Pick fluorophores with minimal spectral overlap, apply proper controls, and mind photobleaching.
4. Automation and analysis: Use tools like ImageJ/Fiji, CellProfiler, or napari for unbiased quantification and reproducible pipelines.
5. Care and calibration: Clean optics, align illumination, verify scale bars, and keep logs—small tasks, big payoffs.

How to Display Microscopy Skills on Your Resume

3. Bioinformatics

Bioinformatics blends biology with computation to decode sequences, structures, and signals at scale. Genomes, transcriptomes, proteomes—data-heavy, insight-rich.

Why It's Important

Modern biology runs on data. Bioinformatics transforms raw files into hypotheses, patterns, and decisions, enabling discoveries that wet-lab work alone can’t touch.

How to Improve Bioinformatics Skills

Build both depth and range:

1. Foundations first: Solid grounding in molecular biology, statistics, and algorithms.
2. Programming fluency: Get comfortable in Python and R; learn bash, Git, and basic SQL.
3. Core tools: Practice with sequence alignment, variant calling, differential expression, and functional annotation.
4. Reproducible workflows: Use Snakemake or Nextflow, containers (Docker), and environment managers (conda).
5. Work on real datasets: Public repositories and lab data sharpen judgment fast.
6. Good habits: Document your code, version your analysis, and validate with controls.

How to Display Bioinformatics Skills on Your Resume

4. ELISA

ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) quantifies proteins, antibodies, and hormones on plates using antigen–antibody binding and an enzymatic readout. Straightforward, sensitive, scalable.

Why It's Important

It turns invisible biomolecules into measurable signals. Diagnostics, vaccine studies, biomarker tracking—ELISA is the dependable workhorse.

How to Improve ELISA Skills

Turn variability down and signal up:

1. Coating and capture: Titrate antigen/antibody carefully; select high-affinity pairs and verify lot-to-lot consistency.
2. Blocking: Choose blockers (BSA, casein, serum) based on matrix; optimize time and concentration to lower background.
3. Sample handling: Standardize dilution schemes, avoid freeze–thaw cycles, and add protease inhibitors if needed.
4. Antibody titration: Find the inflection point—enough signal without fogging the background.
5. Wash rigor: Adequate cycles, proper buffer, consistent volumes; edge effects are real, so be methodical.
6. Detection chemistry: Match substrate to enzyme and dynamic range; monitor incubation times closely.
7. Standards and curves: Use replicates, verify linearity, and apply the right fit (often 4PL/5PL).
8. Instrumentation: Calibrate plate readers and verify uniformity across the plate.

How to Display ELISA Skills on Your Resume

5. Flow Cytometry

Flow cytometry measures cells one by one as they zip through lasers, reporting size, granularity, and marker expression. With sorting, you can also collect the exact population you care about.

Why It's Important

It dissects heterogeneous samples with speed and nuance. Immune profiling, cell-cycle work, rare-event detection—minutes, not days.

How to Improve Flow Cytometry Skills

Reduce noise, boost truth:

1. Sample prep: Single-cell suspensions, filtered and viable; use DNAse when sticky, and keep cells cold to minimize activation.
2. Panel design: Balance antigen density with fluorophore brightness; minimize spectral overlap; include proper controls (unstained, single-stained, FMO, isotype where relevant).
3. Acquisition discipline: Set voltages on biological controls, not beads alone. Apply compensation carefully and verify with single-color controls.
4. Gating strategy: Exclude debris and doublets first, add viability dyes, then gate by hierarchy; document decisions.
5. Spectral systems: For spectral cytometry, build unmixing libraries and validate frequently.
6. Maintenance: Daily QC, regular calibration, and clean fluidics prevent drift.

How to Display Flow Cytometry Skills on Your Resume

6. CRISPR

CRISPR systems edit genomes with targeted precision. From classic Cas9 cuts to base editing, prime editing, and CRISPRi/a, you can disrupt, rewrite, or modulate genes without breaking them outright.

Why It's Important

It accelerates discovery and enables therapies once thought impossible—functional genomics, disease modeling, engineered cell therapies, the lot.

How to Improve CRISPR Skills

Make edits cleaner and more reliable:

1. Guide design: Pick gRNAs with high on-target scores and low off-target risk; consider truncations or chemical modifications when needed.
2. Protein choice: Use high-fidelity or PAM-relaxed variants (e.g., SpCas9-HF1, eSpCas9, SpG/SpRY) matched to your target space.
3. Editing mode: Choose base editors for single-nucleotide changes, prime editors for templated edits, and CRISPRi/a for expression tuning.
4. Delivery: Optimize RNP delivery, viral vectors, or LNPs depending on cell type and context.
5. Off-target assessment: Validate with targeted sequencing; use unbiased methods when stakes are high.
6. Controls and clones: Include editing controls, isolate clones when necessary, and confirm genotypes functionally—not just genotypically.

How to Display CRISPR Skills on Your Resume

7. Gel Electrophoresis

Gel electrophoresis separates nucleic acids or proteins by size and charge through a matrix under an electric field. Simple, visual, dependable.

Why It's Important

It validates constructs, checks PCRs, purifies fragments, and screens proteins. A quick look at a gel can save a week.

How to Improve Gel Electrophoresis Skills

Make bands sharp and meaningful:

1. Right gel, right %: Choose agarose percentage for DNA/RNA size range; for proteins, pick appropriate PAGE systems and buffers.
2. Buffer integrity: Use fresh TAE/TBE (nucleic acids) or the correct PAGE buffers; mind ionic strength and temperature.
3. Sample prep: Use proper loading dyes, accurate quantification, and denaturation when required.
4. Voltage and time: Lower voltage improves resolution; don’t overrun small fragments.
5. Staining safety: Prefer safer DNA stains over ethidium bromide; if UV is used, protect samples and eyes.
6. Documentation: Calibrate size standards and exposure; avoid saturated bands that hide real differences.

How to Display Gel Electrophoresis Skills on Your Resume

8. R (Statistics)

R is a statistical programming environment tailored for analysis and visualization. In biology, it powers everything from experimental design checks to high-dimensional omics.

Why It's Important

With R, you analyze rigorously and explain clearly—models, graphics, reproducible reports—so your findings hold up under scrutiny.

How to Improve R (Statistics) Skills

Level up with method and craft:

1. Tidy workflows: Learn the tidyverse for data wrangling and ggplot2 for figures that tell a story.
2. Bioconductor fluency: Use domain packages for RNA-seq, single-cell, methylation, and more.
3. Statistical depth: Practice GLMs, mixed models, survival analysis, multiple testing control, and Bayesian approaches where appropriate.
4. Reproducibility: Build R Markdown or Quarto reports; manage environments with renv; version control with Git.
5. Practice on real data: Iterate fast, validate assumptions, and stress-test conclusions.

How to Display R (Statistics) Skills on Your Resume

9. Python (Programming)

Python is a versatile language for data analysis, automation, and modeling. Clean syntax, huge ecosystem, and strong scientific libraries make it a natural fit for modern biology.

Why It's Important

It handles messy files, massive datasets, and custom pipelines with ease—letting you spend time on biology, not busywork.

How to Improve Python (Programming) Skills

Grow breadth, then sharpen:

1. Core fluency: Master data structures, functions, object-oriented patterns, and testing.
2. Science stack: Use NumPy, pandas, SciPy, Matplotlib/Seaborn, and scikit-learn; add Biopython for sequence tasks.
3. Notebooks and scripts: Mix Jupyter for exploration with modular scripts for production pipelines.
4. Data engineering basics: Learn file I/O, parallel processing, and memory-aware workflows.
5. Project hygiene: Virtual environments, clear docs, type hints where helpful, and continuous integration for reliability.

How to Display Python (Programming) Skills on Your Resume

10. NGS (Next-Generation Sequencing)

NGS reads DNA or RNA at scale—short reads for depth and accuracy, long reads for structural truth. Genomes, transcriptomes, single-cell atlases: all within reach.

Why It's Important

It unveils variants, expression changes, epigenetic patterns, and microbial communities. Research, diagnostics, and precision medicine all lean on it.

How to Improve NGS (Next-Generation Sequencing) Skills

Better data in, better answers out:

1. Sample and library quality: Gentle extraction, clean inputs, accurate quantification; use UMIs when appropriate.
2. Platform fit: Choose short-read instruments for small variants and high throughput; pick long-read systems (e.g., HiFi or nanopore) for structural variants, isoforms, and repeats.
3. QC everywhere: Inspect reads (quality, adapters, contamination), track duplication, and verify coverage targets.
4. Robust pipelines: Use proven tools for alignment, variant calling, and expression analysis; encapsulate with Snakemake/Nextflow and containers.
5. Validation: Confirm key findings with orthogonal methods (qPCR, Sanger, targeted panels).
6. Metadata discipline: Record sample provenance, batch info, and processing steps to tame batch effects.

How to Display NGS (Next-Generation Sequencing) Skills on Your Resume

11. HPLC (High-Performance Liquid Chromatography)

HPLC separates components of complex mixtures using a high-pressure solvent flow through a packed column, enabling identification and quantification across a wide range of biomolecules.

Why It's Important

When samples are crowded, HPLC teases them apart. Metabolites, peptides, nucleosides—clean peaks, solid numbers.

How to Improve HPLC (High-Performance Liquid Chromatography) Skills

Refine separation and stability:

1. Column choice: Match stationary phase, particle size, and dimensions to analyte chemistry and complexity.
2. Mobile phase: Optimize solvent composition, modifiers, and pH; filter and degas to curb noise.
3. Gradient strategy: Use gradients for complex matrices; adjust slopes and hold times for resolution without bloat.
4. Temperature control: Stabilize retention times and improve peak shape with consistent column temperatures.
5. Sample prep: Clarify, desalt, concentrate, and protect from degradation; minimize matrix effects.
6. Flow rate and injection volume: Balance analysis time, backpressure, and resolution; avoid overloading.
7. Detector settings: Choose the right detector (UV/Vis, fluorescence, MS) and calibrate often.
8. Preventive maintenance: Replace frits and guards, watch pressure traces, and keep detailed logs to spot trouble early.

How to Display HPLC (High-Performance Liquid Chromatography) Skills on Your Resume

12. Mass Spectrometry

Mass spectrometry identifies and quantifies molecules by their mass-to-charge signatures. Paired with liquid chromatography, it dissects complex biological mixtures with astonishing specificity.

Why It's Important

Proteins, lipids, metabolites—MS maps them with precision for pathway analysis, biomarker discovery, and mechanism hunting.

How to Improve Mass Spectrometry Skills

Turn signal into insight with care:

1. Sample integrity: Use clean extraction protocols, control for carryover, and include blanks and spiked standards.
2. Ionization fit: Match ESI or MALDI to analyte type; tune source settings to boost sensitivity while limiting in-source fragmentation.
3. Acquisition modes: Select DDA for discovery, DIA/SWATH for comprehensive quant, SRM/PRM for targeted assays.
4. High resolution and calibration: Maintain mass accuracy with frequent calibration; monitor internal standards.
5. Data analysis: Use validated pipelines for identification, FDR control, and quantitation; annotate pathways to connect numbers to biology.
6. QA/QC cadence: Run QC samples routinely to track instrument performance and drift.

How to Display Mass Spectrometry Skills on Your Resume