Career
The specialty of molecular genetics embraces:
- The role of genetics in medicine
- Mendelian genetics
- Multifactorial inheritance
- DNA structure
- Chromosome structure
- Population genetics
- Mutation rates
- Ethnicity of disease
- Genetic mapping
At work in the laboratory molecular genetic technologists apply a comprehensive knowledge of cell cycle, mitosis, meiosis and pedigree analysis. As professionals they study inherited disease -- through examination of genetic mutations in the hemoglobinopathies, enzymopathies and various structural proteins -- and they understand the relationship between the molecular defect and its clinical pathology.
Molecular genetic technologists also learn the latest, newest methodologies and topics in genetics, such as:
- DNA microarrays
- Human Genome Project
- Transgenic animals
- Cloning
- Gene therapy
- Forensic medicine
- DNA sequencing
Objectives
Please see the Health Professions Student Catalog for a review of the objectives of the MD Anderson Program in Molecular Genetic Technology. The review concludes with a description of career options.
Salary
According to the salary survey conducted by Academic Affairs at MD Anderson Cancer Center, the average starting salary for a staff molecular genetic technologist is $42,000 to $46,000.