Jobs / Science and research / 19-1029.03
Geneticists
Research and study the inheritance of traits at the molecular, organism or population level. May evaluate or treat patients with genetic disorders.
- US jobs
- 55,850 (SOC 19-1029 group, "Biological Scientists, All Other")
- Median wage
- $98,920 a year
- Job family
- Science and research
Can agents do the work of geneticists?
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 this occupation
- 95.5%Claude Code + Claude Opus 4.5 (after manual regrading) · 3 Dec 2025Solved
Benchmarks for the job family
These cover work in science and research, not always this occupation's tasks.
Typical tasks
From O*NET 31.0. Core tasks first. Few of these tasks have a benchmark today.
- Supervise or direct the work of other geneticists, biologists, technicians, or biometricians working on genetics research projects.
- Plan or conduct basic genomic and biological research related to areas such as regulation of gene expression, protein interactions, metabolic networks, and nucleic acid or protein complexes.
- Prepare results of experimental findings for presentation at professional conferences or in scientific journals.
- Maintain laboratory notebooks that record research methods, procedures, and results.
- Write grants and papers or attend fundraising events to seek research funds.
- Search scientific literature to select and modify methods and procedures most appropriate for genetic research goals.
- Review, approve, or interpret genetic laboratory results.
- Attend clinical and research conferences and read scientific literature to keep abreast of technological advances and current genetic research findings.
- Evaluate genetic data by performing appropriate mathematical or statistical calculations and analyses.
- Analyze determinants responsible for specific inherited traits, and devise methods for altering traits or producing new traits.
- Extract deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or perform diagnostic tests involving processes such as gel electrophoresis, Southern blot analysis, and polymerase chain reaction analysis.
- Collaborate with biologists and other professionals to conduct appropriate genetic and biochemical analyses.
Other job titles for this occupation (28)
Cardiovascular Geneticist · Medical Geneticist · Research Scientist · Scientist · Academic Pediatric Geneticist · Behavioral Geneticist · Clinical Biochemical Geneticist · Clinical Cytogeneticist · Clinical Geneticist · Clinical Molecular Geneticist · Computational Geneticist · Crop Quantitative Geneticist · Genetic Scientist · Geneticist · Genomics Scientist · Laboratory Geneticist (Lab Geneticist) · Molecular Geneticist · Pediatric Clinical Geneticist · Pediatric Geneticist · Pediatric Medical Geneticist · Pharmacogeneticist · Plants Geneticist · Population Geneticist · Postdoctoral Fellow (Postdoc Fellow) · Proteomics Scientist · Research Geneticist · Statistical Geneticist · Swine Genetics Researcher