Jobs / Science and research / 19-1022.00
Microbiologists
Investigate the growth, structure, development, and other characteristics of microscopic organisms, such as bacteria, algae, or fungi. Includes medical microbiologists who study the relationship between organisms and disease or the effects of antibiotics on microorganisms.
- US jobs
- 18,940
- Median wage
- $87,990 a year
- Job family
- Science and research
Can agents do the work of microbiologists?
We read the evidence at the level of the job family, Science and research:
- Task levelPartialThin evidence. CORE-Bench asks agents to reproduce the results of published papers in computer science, social science, and medicine from the authors' code and data. Princeton's HAL team declared it solved in December 2025: Claude Code with Claude Opus 4.5 scored 95.5% after manual regrading. No benchmark in our collection tests new experiments or lab work.
- Project levelNot yetThin evidence. On PaperBench, where agents replicate machine learning papers from scratch, the best official result is 26.0% (o1, April 2025). On a small subset, ML PhDs scored 41.4% against o1's 26.6%. No newer official results exist, and no benchmark tests research projects in other sciences.
Benchmarks for the job family
These cover work in science and research, not always this occupation's tasks.
- 95.5%Claude Code + Claude Opus 4.5 (after manual regrading) · 3 Dec 2025Solved
Typical tasks
From O*NET 31.0. Core tasks first. Few of these tasks have a benchmark today.
- Isolate and maintain cultures of bacteria or other microorganisms in prescribed or developed media, controlling moisture, aeration, temperature, and nutrition.
- Provide laboratory services for health departments, community environmental health programs, and physicians needing information for diagnosis and treatment.
- Monitor and perform tests on water, food, and the environment to detect harmful microorganisms or to obtain information about sources of pollution, contamination, or infection.
- Examine physiological, morphological, and cultural characteristics, using microscope, to identify and classify microorganisms in human, water, and food specimens.
- Supervise biological technologists and technicians and other scientists.
- Use a variety of specialized equipment, such as electron microscopes, gas and high-pressure liquid chromatographs, electrophoresis units, thermocyclers, fluorescence-activated cell sorters, and phosphorimagers.
- Investigate the relationship between organisms and disease, including the control of epidemics and the effects of antibiotics on microorganisms.
- Prepare technical reports and recommendations, based upon research outcomes.
- Observe action of microorganisms upon living tissues of plants, higher animals, and other microorganisms, and on dead organic matter.
- Study growth, structure, development, and general characteristics of bacteria and other microorganisms to understand their relationship to human, plant, and animal health.
- Study the structure and function of human, animal, and plant tissues, cells, pathogens, and toxins.
- Develop new products and procedures for sterilization, food and pharmaceutical supply preservation, or microbial contamination detection.
Other job titles for this occupation (24)
Bacteriologist · Clinical Laboratory Scientist (Clinical Lab Scientist) · Clinical Microbiologist · Medical Technologist · Microbiological Analyst · Microbiologist · Public Health Microbiologist · Quality Control Microbiologist (QC Microbiologist) · Research Microbiologist · Research Specialist · Cytologist · Electron Microscopist · Medical Lab Scientist (Medical Laboratory Scientist) · Medical Microbiologist · Microbiology Analyst · Microbiology Scientist · Microbiology Specialist · Microscopist · Pharmaceutical Microbiologist · QA Microbiologist (Quality Assurance Microbiologist) · Quality Control Microbiology Analyst (QC Microbiology Analyst) · Research Associate · Scientist · Virologist