Indispensable, Yes. Appreciated? Maybe

There's a spate of blog posts about jobs in the biotech industry. Sandra Porter first took up the mantle last week and now links to an interview of Bio-Link's Elaine Johnson. Johnson has helped set up community college programs to prepare students for work in the biotech sector. For those coming from academia, Bitesize Bio wonders about teamwork -- necessary in industry but often woefully absent in graduate schools. Once in industry, In the Pipeline's Derek Lowe asks how lab associates' status is perceived -- he says they are indispensable, though they're often treated more like manual labor. "An experienced chemistry lab associate is one of the most readily employable people in the industry, under normal conditions," says Lowe.