杏吧原创

JOHN O鈥橞RIEN鈥橲 eureka moment came as he looked down the barrel of a machine gun. Back in 2000, he was working as a technician at the Medical Research Council鈥檚 Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, and had been trying to solve the same problem for almost three years.

Biologists often use a piece of equipment called a gene gun, which looks a bit like a hairdryer and shoots DNA into living cells using pulses of helium gas. O鈥橞rien had been asked to improve the design. The problem was that from the cell鈥檚 point of view, it was like being hit with a sawn-off shotgun. 鈥淚 was trying to enhance the accuracy and reduce the pressure from the gun so it could be used on living animals without causing tissue damage,鈥� says O鈥橞rien.

After early attempts to modify the gene gun鈥檚 barrel failed, O鈥橞rien sought advice from a different quarter 鈥� a retired policeman. 鈥淗e showed me a German machine gun, and explained that the angle of the holes in the barrel is crucial,鈥� he recalls. At about 20 degrees to the horizontal, the air can escape from holes punched along the barrel more quickly. It was the breakthrough O鈥橞rien had been looking for (see Diagram).

His modified gene gun does its job without damaging tissue. The gun can also fire markers such as dyes, which will be transported around the animal. It has been a huge success, and there are now 150 in use around the world. O鈥橞rien has published two papers in Nature on how to use it, and is just beginning to realise its potential for studying cellular physiology in real time. One group, for example, is developing tiny nanosensors that, once fired into a cell, change colour according to pH.

Over the last couple of years, O鈥橞rien has become an internationally renowned expert in gene gun technology. Several colleagues have been surprised that he doesn鈥檛 have a PhD, he says. 鈥淟ooking back, my boss had a lot of faith in me.鈥�

O鈥橞rien鈥檚 story is not unique. Boundaries have been blurring in the scientific ranks, and the old distinction between technician and researcher has all but faded in the public sector. Today鈥檚 scientific workforce is a continuum from bottle-washer to professor, with research assistants and lower-grade scientific officers hovering somewhere in the middle.

These days, plenty of technicians carry out independent research and publish papers. Like O鈥橞rien, they may be extremely specialised in the practical side of a particular branch of science. In fact, at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology, the title 鈥渢echnician鈥� has been shelved altogether, although it is still used elsewhere.

This blurring inevitably leads to some confusion among jobseekers about a technician鈥檚 career options. In one sense, technicians are scientific support staff. They run labs. They buy, maintain and operate equipment and handle waste. In another sense, they are the hands-on scientists, representing a skill set as vital to modern research as theoretical understanding. In universities, they often train PhD students to find their way around a lab. Most organisations have two or three types of technician: the research technician, the service technician and, in universities, the teaching technician. Any of these can become a specialist in their own right.

John Turner, head of biological sciences at the University of East Anglia, runs a bustling plant microbiology lab. He relies heavily on his research assistant, Elaine Patrick, because she has mastered every technique in the lab. 鈥淪he brings continuity,鈥� he explains. 鈥淢ost of our research staff are on three-year contracts.鈥� When key people leave, Patrick is on hand to show new people the ropes. She often features in the author list of papers from Turner鈥檚 lab.

He admits he would struggle to carry out some of the activities she performs. 鈥淚鈥檝e been out of the lab too long,鈥� he says. 鈥淭echniques like DNA cloning, where you multiply DNA inside a bacterium, take an extraordinary amount of skill.鈥�

Technicians with hands-on expertise are in great demand in labs across the country, and certain skills are becoming scarcer. Instrument and equipment making is a case in point. Most university science departments used to have an engineering workshop, but many have now been closed. Peter Jessop runs the medical engineering unit at the University of Nottingham Medical School, one of only four accredited medical devices workshops in the UK. The unit produces one-off, bespoke equipment for medical research, some of which it sells to other universities around the world.

Just rewards

All Jessop鈥檚 staff members are apprentice-trained as instrument or tool-makers and have a breadth of skill that is difficult to find now. 鈥淲e had a lad on a youth training scheme for two years, and I funded him for a further three years, but at the end I couldn鈥檛 give him a job,鈥� Jessop laments. 鈥淭he company he went to work for couldn鈥檛 believe the quality of his training.鈥�

By contrast, becoming a service technician does not require a high level of scientific training (see 鈥淐areer briefing鈥�). Their job is to act as lab support for researchers in industry and universities. 鈥淭he technicians provide all the essential lab functions, from keeping the benches clean and the cupboards stocked to performing basic assays,鈥� says Barry Davies, who manages the technicians at AstraZeneca鈥檚 Alderley Park site in Cheshire. He stresses they are very much part of the scientific team.

Starting as a technician doesn鈥檛 stop you from becoming a research scientist. But your chances may depend on where you work. There are plenty of stories of technicians who later became professors or group leaders. Perhaps the most well-known is conservationist David Bellamy, who started as what he called a 鈥渓ab boy鈥� at a technical college and progressed to senior botany lecturer at the University of Durham before becoming an author and TV presenter.

Sophie Petit-Zeman left school at 16 to work as a technician at the University of London鈥檚 Royal Veterinary College 鈥� and now has a PhD in neuroscience. 鈥淚 found the scientific environment very stimulating,鈥� she says, 鈥淚 used to feel frustrated in the pub after work, when the group were talking about glutamate receptors and I did not understand the bigger picture.鈥� This encouraged her to return to academic study. She was given the freedom to do her own experiments at work, and time off to study for A levels, a technical diploma, and then a pharmacology degree, which ultimately led her to apply for a full-time PhD. 鈥淲hether you can make this step depends on the environment you鈥檙e in and the encouragement you get from your employers,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 think in some labs, or perhaps in industry, I would have stayed a technician.鈥�

Lorna Skiera, chief technician in the department of biology at the University of York, agrees. 鈥淓ach research technician is managed by their own academic supervisor,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 almost a system of patronage. Most academics encourage technicians to develop their skills. There are people who treat their technician as a skivvy, but it happens less and less.鈥�

Skiera has found her career as a technician very rewarding. 鈥淎s a technician, you can still enjoy the science and you may get a permanent post relatively quickly.鈥� The only downside in universities has been a lack of training and career progression up to now. But things are improving. By August this year, all British universities should have implemented a new agreement on pay structures so that people are justly rewarded according to their skill level. 鈥淎t York, the technicians have done very well out of this,鈥� says Skiera.

The role of the technician is what you make of it. 鈥淭here is such a wealth of knowledge around you,鈥� says O鈥橞rien. 鈥淵ou can get a lot out of the job if you put your mind to it.鈥�