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Cytogenetic Technologists

It's a bright outlook for

This career will grow rapidly in the next few years.

Learn more about what they do.

Analyze chromosomes or chromosome segments found in biological specimens, such as amniotic fluids, bone marrow, solid tumors, and blood to aid in the study, diagnosis, classification, or treatment of inherited or acquired genetic diseases. Conduct analyses through classical cytogenetic, fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) or array comparative genome hybridization (aCGH) techniques.

Related: Cytotechnologists Histology Technicians Histotechnologists Medical & Clinical Laboratory Technicians Medical & Clinical Laboratory Technologists

Industries: Health & Counseling

Summary
Details

Communicate test results or technical information to patients, physicians, family members, or researchers.
Determine optimal time sequences and methods for manual or robotic cell harvests.
Develop and implement training programs for trainees, medical students, resident physicians or post-doctoral fellows.
Supervise subordinate laboratory staff.
Arrange and attach chromosomes in numbered pairs on karyotype charts, using standard genetics laboratory practices and nomenclature, to identify normal or abnormal chromosomes.
Summarize test results and report to appropriate authorities.
Develop, implement, and monitor quality control and quality assurance programs to ensure accurate and precise test performance and reports.
Input details of specimens into logs or computer systems.
Summarize test results and report to appropriate authorities.
Select appropriate methods of preparation and storage of media to maintain potential of hydrogen (pH), sterility, or ability to support growth.
Create chromosome images using computer imaging systems.
Recognize and report abnormalities in the color, size, shape, composition, or pattern of cells.
Communicate test results or technical information to patients, physicians, family members, or researchers.
Identify appropriate methods of specimen collection, preservation, or transport.
Extract, measure, dilute as appropriate, label, and prepare DNA for array analysis.
Apply prepared specimen and control to appropriate grid, run instrumentation, and produce analyzable results.
Select banding methods to permit identification of chromosome pairs.
Select appropriate culturing system or procedure based on specimen type and reason for referral.
Evaluate appropriateness of received specimens for requested tests.
Count numbers of chromosomes and identify the structural abnormalities by viewing culture slides through microscopes, light microscopes, or photomicroscopes.
Prepare biological specimens such as amniotic fluids, bone marrow, tumors, chorionic villi, and blood, for chromosome examinations.
Stain slides to make chromosomes visible for microscopy.
Examine chromosomes found in biological specimens to detect abnormalities.
Select or prepare specimens and media for cell cultures using aseptic techniques, knowledge of medium components, or cell nutritional requirements.
Input details of specimen processing, analysis, and technical issues into logs or laboratory information systems (LIS).
Recognize and report abnormalities in the color, size, shape, composition, or pattern of cells.
Communicate to responsible parties unacceptable specimens and suggest remediation for future submissions.
Harvest cell cultures using substances such as mitotic arrestants, cell releasing agents, and cell fixatives.
Develop and implement training programs for trainees, medical students, resident physicians or post-doctoral fellows.
Describe chromosome, FISH and aCGH analysis results in International System of Cytogenetic Nomenclature (ISCN) language.
Maintain laboratory equipment such as photomicroscopes, inverted microscopes, and standard darkroom equipment.
Archive case documentation and study materials as required by regulations and laws.
Prepare slides of cell cultures following standard procedures.
Analyze chromosomes found in biological specimens to aid diagnoses and treatments for genetic diseases such as congenital disabilities, fertility problems, and hematological disorders.
Develop, implement, and monitor quality control and quality assurance programs to ensure accurate and precise test performance and reports.

Active Listening
- Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
Science
- Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
Writing
- Writing things for co-workers or customers.
Coordination
- Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
Operations Analysis
- Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
Negotiation
- Bringing people together to solve differences.
Management of Personnel Resources
- Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
Active Learning
- Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
Speaking
- Talking to others.
Service Orientation
- Looking for ways to help people.
Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
Equipment Maintenance
- Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
Quality Control Analysis
- Testing how well a product or service works.
Time Management
- Managing your time and the time of other people.
Critical Thinking
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
Reading Comprehension
- Reading work-related information.
Mathematics
- Using math to solve problems.
Persuasion
- Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
Social Perceptiveness
- Understanding people's reactions.
Judgment and Decision Making
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
Technology Design
- Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
Equipment Selection
- Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
Systems Analysis
- Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
Complex Problem Solving
- Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
Monitoring
- Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
Learning Strategies
- Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
Instructing
- Teaching people how to do something.
Programming
- Writing computer programs.
Troubleshooting
- Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
Systems Evaluation
- Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
Operation and Control
- Using equipment or systems.
Management of Financial Resources
- Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
Management of Material Resources
- Managing equipment and materials.

Inductive Reasoning
- Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
Perceptual Speed
- Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
Dynamic Flexibility
- Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Spatial Orientation
- Knowing where things are around you.
Control Precision
- Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
Static Strength
- Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
Gross Body Coordination
- Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
Speed of Closure
- Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
Dynamic Strength
- Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
Extent Flexibility
- Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Peripheral Vision
- Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
Depth Perception
- Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
Speech Clarity
- Speaking clearly.
Selective Attention
- Paying attention to something without being distracted.
Near Vision
- Seeing details up close.
Hearing Sensitivity
- Telling the difference between sounds.
Information Ordering
- Ordering or arranging things.
Memorization
- Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
Visual Color Discrimination
- Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
Time Sharing
- Doing two or more things at the same time.
Category Flexibility
- Grouping things in different ways.
Visualization
- Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
Multilimb Coordination
- Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
Explosive Strength
- Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
Gross Body Equilibrium
- Keeping your balance or staying upright.
Deductive Reasoning
- Using rules to solve problems.
Manual Dexterity
- Holding or moving items with your hands.
Wrist-Finger Speed
- Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
Night Vision
- Seeing at night or under low light.
Speech Recognition
- Recognizing spoken words.
Originality
- Creating new and original ideas.
Reaction Time
- Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
Number Facility
- Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
Problem Sensitivity
- Noticing when problems happen.
Finger Dexterity
- Putting together small parts with your fingers.
Speed of Limb Movement
- Quickly moving your arms and legs.
Written Expression
- Communicating by writing.
Mathematical Reasoning
- Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
Response Orientation
- Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
Fluency of Ideas
- Coming up with lots of ideas.
Rate Control
- Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
Trunk Strength
- Using your lower back and stomach.
Far Vision
- Seeing details that are far away.
Auditory Attention
- Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
Oral Expression
- Communicating by speaking.
Flexibility of Closure
- Seeing hidden patterns.
Glare Sensitivity
- Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
Oral Comprehension
- Listening and understanding what people say.
Written Comprehension
- Reading and understanding what is written.
Arm-Hand Steadiness
- Keeping your arm or hand steady.
Stamina
- Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
Sound Localization
- Noticing the direction that a sound came from.

Sales and Marketing
- Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Food Production
- Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
Philosophy and Theology
- Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
Mechanical
- Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
Education and Training
- Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Chemistry
- Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
Medicine and Dentistry
- Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
Computers and Electronics
- Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Biology
- Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
Telecommunications
- Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
Geography
- Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
Engineering and Technology
- Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
Psychology
- Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Physics
- Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
Fine Arts
- Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
Communications and Media
- Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
Law and Government
- Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Administration and Management
- Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Economics and Accounting
- Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
Customer and Personal Service
- Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Personnel and Human Resources
- Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
Production and Processing
- Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Mathematics
- Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Foreign Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
Administrative
- Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
English Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Therapy and Counseling
- Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
Public Safety and Security
- Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
History and Archeology
- Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
Transportation
- Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
Building and Construction
- Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
Design
- Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
Sociology and Anthropology
- Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.

Education

Bachelor's degree

Work Experience

No work experience

Training

No on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

Washington Annual Salary

68650/yr

Washington Hourly Wage

33.01/hr

Currently Employed

7,750

Yearly Projected Openings

630

Investigative: People interested in this work like activities that include ideas, thinking, and figuring things out. They do well at jobs that need:

Attention to Detail
Dependability
Integrity
Analytical Thinking
Cooperation
Adaptability/Flexibility

Binocular light compound microscopes
Counters
Cryogenic or liquid nitrogen freezers
Culture tubes
Darkfield microscopes
Deoxyribonucleic sequence analyzers
Desktop computers
Digital cameras
Digital image printers
Distillation pipings or columns or fittings
Dropping pipettes
Dry heat or hot air sterilizers
Dry wall single chamber carbon dioxide incubators
Fluorescent microscopes
Fume hoods or cupboards
General purpose refrigerators or refrigerator freezers
Histological staining apparatus
Hybridization ovens or incubators
Interferometers
Inverted microscopes
Ion exchange apparatus
Laboratory filtration hardware or accessories
Laboratory flasks
Laboratory incubator thermometers
Laboratory microwave ovens
Laboratory vials
Magnetic stirrers
Mercury vapor lamp HID
Microscope condensers
Microscope slide racks
Microscope slides
Multiwell plates
Petri plates or dishes
Photo attachments for microscopes
Pipette bulbs
Protective gloves
Refrigerated benchtop centrifuges
Scanners
Slide dryers
Steam autoclaves or sterilizers
Stereo or dissecting light microscopes
Sterilization cabinets
Surgical isolation or surgical masks
Tachometers
Test tube racks
Ultra cold or ultralow upright cabinets or freezers
Ultrasonic cleaning equipment
Ultrasonic disintegrators
Vortex mixers
Water baths
pH meters

Analytical or scientific software
Customer relationship management CRM software
Data base user interface and query software
Electronic mail software
Graphics or photo imaging software
Object or component oriented development software
Office suite software
Presentation software
Spreadsheet software
Word processing software

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Cytogenetic Technologists

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