Lab assistant
| Highest | $3,000 / mo · United States |
|---|---|
| Experience | 0–1 yrs |
| Degree | Required |
| First paycheck | 4 years of undergraduate study |
Pay in the destination countries
Monthly, in US dollars. Each country is an Imora admission package — open one for that route's fees, language requirement and deadline.
| Country | Monthly |
|---|---|
| United StatesTOEFL 80–100 · $10–70k | $3,000max |
| SwitzerlandIELTS 6.5 · CHF 0.9–8k | $2,950 |
| CanadaIELTS 6.0–6.5 · CAD 20–40k | $2,950 |
| NorwayIELTS 6.0–6.5 · NOK 130–260k | $2,900 |
| DenmarkIELTS 6.5 · DKK 45–135k | $2,900 |
| NetherlandsIELTS 6.0–6.5 · €8–20k | $2,900 |
What does the day look like?
Around 45% of the day is repetitive manual pipetting using single-channel and multichannel mechanical pipettes (0.5 to 1000 microlitres), loading 96-well plates, sample labelling, and barcode scanning. Another 25% is spent washing glassware, autoclaving equipment at 121 degrees Celsius, preparing buffer solutions (PBS, TAE), and decontaminating biohazardous waste. Documentation takes 15% of the time, entering sample metadata into Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS) and Benchling ELN. Only 15% is the molecular work people picture: extracting DNA/RNA, running PCR thermocyclers, gel electrophoresis, and feeding live cell cultures.
Standard hours are 37.5 to 40 hours per week, Monday through Friday, 08:30 to 17:00. Contract research organisations (CROs) and industrial manufacturing plants frequently run two-shift schedules (06:00 to 14:30 and 14:00 to 22:30). A weekend rotation of 2 to 4 hours on Saturday or Sunday occurs every 3 to 4 weeks to feed active live cultures. Night shifts and 24-hour on-call duty do not exist in non-clinical research.
Where does this lead?
Next step up
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