Top 12 Lab Aide Skills to Put on Your Resume

In today's competitive job market, a sharp, credible resume matters for lab aides chasing that next role. Put your strongest skills forward. Show technique, accuracy, and safe habits. It signals you can jump in on day one and not fumble the basics.

Lab Aide Skills

1. PCR
2. ELISA
3. Spectrophotometry
4. Chromatography
5. Microscopy
6. Centrifugation
7. Gel Electrophoresis
8. Western Blotting
9. Flow Cytometry
10. Autoclaving
11. Bioinformatics
12. Mass Spectrometry

1. PCR

PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) amplifies specific DNA sequences so they can be detected, analyzed, and compared. From diagnosis to cloning to forensics—this tool is everywhere.

Why It's Important

It turns tiny amounts of DNA into measurable signal. That unlocks quick pathogen detection, genotyping, and verification of constructs—fast, precise, reliable when done right.

How to Improve PCR Skills

Dial in the moving parts, then keep them consistent.

1. Primer design: Aim for 40–60% GC content, Tm around 50–60°C, minimal hairpins and dimers.
2. Template quality: High-integrity, clean DNA. Confirm concentration and purity before you start.
3. Annealing temperature: Use gradient PCR to find the temperature sweet spot for specificity.
4. MgCl2: Titrate (about 1.5–2.5 mM) to balance polymerase activity and binding.
5. Hot start enzymes: Cut down on nonspecific amplification and primer dimers.
6. Cycles: Usually 25–35. Too many cycles invite artifacts.
7. Extension time: Roughly 1 minute per 1,000 bp; adjust for polymerase speed.
8. Additives: DMSO (1–3%) or betaine can help GC-rich templates behave.
9. Verification: Confirm size and specificity on an agarose gel or capillary system.

How to Display PCR Skills on Your Resume

2. ELISA

ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) detects and quantifies proteins, hormones, and antibodies using highly specific binding and an enzyme-driven readout.

Why It's Important

Clinical screens. Quality checks. Cytokine profiling. It’s a workhorse for sensitive, scalable measurements that inform decisions.

How to Improve ELISA Skills

1. Antibody titration: Perform checkerboard tests to set optimal capture/detection concentrations.
2. Blocking: Choose BSA, casein, or milk and fine-tune concentration/time to cut background.
3. Washing: Standardize buffer and the number/volume of washes. Residual reagents skew results.
4. Consistent prep: Equilibrate reagents, avoid freeze-thaw cycles, and mix gently but thoroughly.
5. Incubations: Control time and temperature tightly; small drifts can shift the curve.
6. Plate coating: Use high-binding plates and ensure uniform coating and incubation.
7. Detection chemistry: Match substrate to enzyme for the sensitivity window you need.
8. Curve fitting: Apply proper models (e.g., 4PL) and include replicates and controls.

How to Display ELISA Skills on Your Resume

3. Spectrophotometry

Spectrophotometry measures how much light a sample absorbs at specific wavelengths, translating that into concentration and purity information.

Why It's Important

Rapid quantification with minimal sample. Perfect for DNA/RNA, protein assays, and reaction kinetics.

How to Improve Spectrophotometry Skills

1. Calibrate routinely: Use verified standards; check baseline and wavelength accuracy.
2. Maintain the instrument: Clean optics, inspect lamps, and log service.
3. Sample prep: Avoid bubbles, fingerprints, and particulates. Consistent pathlength matters.
4. Cuvettes: Use clean, scratch-free matched cuvettes; align consistently.
5. Blanks and controls: Always run blanks; include known standards for sanity checks.
6. Training: Standardize procedures and document methods to reduce variance.

How to Display Spectrophotometry Skills on Your Resume

4. Chromatography

Chromatography separates mixture components so they can be identified, quantified, or purified.

Why It's Important

When mixtures get messy, this is how you untangle them—critical for pharma, environmental testing, and food safety.

How to Improve Chromatography Skills

1. Sample cleanliness: Filter, dilute, or extract to protect columns and sharpen peaks.
2. Column choice: Match stationary phase, dimensions, and particle size to your analytes.
3. Mobile phase: Optimize composition, pH, additives, and flow rate. Degas consistently.
4. Temperature control: Stabilize temperature to improve retention time precision.
5. Injection: Use appropriate volumes and clean vials; avoid overloading.
6. Preventive care: Flush, replace guards, and track backpressures to catch problems early.

How to Display Chromatography Skills on Your Resume

5. Microscopy

Microscopy opens a window into cells, tissues, and materials too small for the naked eye. Focus, contrast, clarity—then the story appears.

Why It's Important

It reveals morphology, contamination, localization, and structure. That’s foundational for diagnostics and research.

How to Improve Microscopy Skills

1. Care and calibration: Clean lenses, align illumination, verify scale bars.
2. Training: Practice mastering Köhler illumination, focusing, and contrast methods.
3. Advanced modes: Explore fluorescence, phase-contrast, or DIC when the sample demands it.
4. Image analysis: Use reliable software and standardize exposure, gain, and post-processing steps.
5. Peer feedback: Review images with colleagues; small adjustments can unlock big improvements.

How to Display Microscopy Skills on Your Resume

6. Centrifugation

Centrifugation spins samples at high speed to separate components by density. Heavy goes out, light stays up. Simple, yet unforgiving if mishandled.

Why It's Important

It enables partitioning cells, organelles, proteins, and nucleic acids for downstream work—cleaner inputs, better outputs.

How to Improve Centrifugation Skills

1. Balance meticulously: Match tube masses and positions. Protects rotors and preserves results.
2. Right settings: Use RCF (g), not just RPM; time to complete separation without damaging samples.
3. Temperature: For heat-sensitive samples, pre-cool and hold setpoints steady.
4. Rotor care: Inspect for corrosion, clean gently, log usage, respect speed limits.
5. Maintenance: Gaskets, lids, alarms—test routinely and service on schedule.

How to Display Centrifugation Skills on Your Resume

7. Gel Electrophoresis

Gel electrophoresis separates DNA, RNA, or proteins by size and charge under an electric field.

Why It's Important

It verifies amplicons, checks restriction digests, and sizes nucleic acids or proteins—fast feedback that guides next steps.

How to Improve Gel Electrophoresis Skills

1. Reagent quality: Use clean buffers and ultrapure water. Impurities cause smeared, grumpy bands.
2. Gel concentration: For DNA/RNA in agarose, match % agarose to fragment size; for proteins or very small nucleic acids, use acrylamide with the right %T/%C.
3. Casting care: Avoid bubbles, ensure even thickness, choose combs that fit your sample volume.
4. Fresh running buffer: Replace regularly to maintain pH and ionic strength.
5. Loading dye: Calibrate volume so samples sink and tracking dyes run predictably.
6. Voltage and time: Too high smears, too low drags on. Tune for gel size and resolution needs.
7. Staining: Use appropriate stains and destain carefully to reduce background. Consider safer dyes where possible.
8. Ladders: Pick markers that bracket your fragment sizes for accurate calls.

How to Display Gel Electrophoresis Skills on Your Resume

8. Western Blotting

Western blotting separates proteins by size, transfers them to a membrane, then probes with antibodies to detect specific targets.

Why It's Important

It confirms protein presence, size, and relative abundance—vital for signaling studies and validation work.

How to Improve Western Blotting Skills

1. Sample prep: Quantify with BCA or Bradford. Denature consistently; include reducing agents if needed.
2. Electrophoresis: Use the right gel percentage or gradient; ensure even polymerization and proper buffer.
3. Transfer: Tune time/voltage by protein size; choose PVDF or nitrocellulose accordingly and ensure full contact without bubbles.
4. Blocking: Select milk or BSA based on antibody and target; optimize duration to cut background.
5. Antibodies: Titrate primaries and secondaries; overnight at 4°C often boosts specificity.
6. Detection: Fresh reagents, proper exposure, and replicate controls. Record every condition for repeatability.

How to Display Western Blotting Skills on Your Resume

9. Flow Cytometry

Flow cytometry measures physical and chemical traits of cells or particles in a fluid stream as they pass through laser light—multiparameter data, quickly.

Why It's Important

It dissects complex cell mixtures, identifies rare subsets, and quantifies expression levels—cornerstone for immunology and beyond.

How to Improve Flow Cytometry Skills

1. Sample quality: Create true single-cell suspensions. Use a cell strainer or dissociation enzymes when needed; minimize debris.
2. Staining: Titrate antibodies. Include FMOs, isotypes where appropriate, and viability dyes.
3. Instrument control: Calibrate daily with beads, verify laser alignment, and track PMT voltages over time.
4. Compensation and gating: Apply proper compensation for multi-color panels; standardize gating strategies and verify with controls.

How to Display Flow Cytometry Skills on Your Resume

10. Autoclaving

Autoclaving sterilizes with high-pressure steam, wiping out bacteria, viruses, fungi, and spores. The gold standard for decontamination.

Why It's Important

It prevents contamination, keeps people safe, and maintains clean baselines for experiments. No shortcuts here.

How to Improve Autoclaving Skills

1. Pick the right cycle: Liquids vs. solids vs. waste—each has specific time, temperature, and venting needs.
2. Load smart: Don’t overcrowd. Allow steam to circulate; use secondary containment for liquids.
3. Indicators: Use chemical and biological indicators regularly to verify effectiveness.
4. Routine maintenance: Clean chambers, gaskets, and drains; follow a documented service schedule.
5. SOPs and training: Clear procedures, documented logs, and trained users reduce errors and accidents.

How to Display Autoclaving Skills on Your Resume

11. Bioinformatics

Bioinformatics blends biology with computing to store, analyze, and interpret large datasets—genomes, transcriptomes, proteomes, and more.

Why It's Important

Modern biology is data-heavy. These skills help make sense of it, driving insights that guide experiments and decisions.

How to Improve Bioinformatics Skills

1. Programming: Grow proficiency in Python and R; practice with real datasets and notebooks.
2. Core tools: Learn sequence alignment, variant calling, and annotation workflows; understand file formats (FASTQ, BAM/CRAM, VCF, GFF/GTF).
3. Statistics and ML: Build foundations in experimental design, multiple testing, and basic machine learning methods.
4. Reproducibility: Use version control (e.g., Git) and environments/containers to lock down dependencies.
5. Pipelines: Explore workflow managers (e.g., Snakemake, Nextflow) for auditable, scalable analyses.
6. Community: Join seminars and study groups; code reviews and mentorship accelerate growth.

How to Display Bioinformatics Skills on Your Resume

12. Mass Spectrometry

Mass spectrometry identifies and quantifies compounds by measuring mass-to-charge ratios of ionized molecules and fragments.

Why It's Important

High specificity and sensitivity, broad dynamic range, and rich structural clues—ideal for complex mixtures and low-abundance targets.

How to Improve Mass Spectrometry Skills

1. Sample prep: Clean up with solid-phase or liquid-liquid extraction; reduce salts and contaminants to lower noise.
2. Calibration and care: Calibrate routinely, check mass accuracy, and follow strict maintenance schedules.
3. Ionization and analyzer tuning: Choose ESI or MALDI appropriately; optimize source settings, resolution, and scan parameters for your analytes.
4. Data processing: Use robust peak picking, deconvolution, and library matching; validate identifications with controls.
5. Collaboration: Work with experienced analysts to troubleshoot and refine methods; document everything.

How to Display Mass Spectrometry Skills on Your Resume