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"Whether it's how we treat the environment or each other, it's all connected," says Martina Hoft, conservation botanist and real estate broker.

"It was so different from anything else we experienced before. It was like we were on another world, like Mars." - Raymond Saumure, Wildlife Biologist at the Las Vegas Springs Preserve.

"You have a lot to learn, but when you can argue the case of your patent application successfully to a patent examiner, it's great," says Sarah Thompson.

"It's easy to find things that work. But to produce them on a large scale and market [them], it's a whole new thing, and it requires a lot more expertise that maybe in-house researchers just don't have," says Hélène Chaisson, Vice-President of Research and Development, Codena.

If you stay in the lab, you can only be as innovative as yourself.

"The most important concept you have to remember is that technology doesn't mean you have a company." Says Roger Bernier, Vice-President of Foragen Technologies Management.

It is a successful formula for this target group.

Whitney B. Hill, who joined MVA in October as a research scientist, prepares and analyzes environmental samples for identification and characterization using Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM).

"If you want to have a safe job--a job for life--then clinical molecular genetics is it, no doubt about it." - Maximilian Muenke

A combination of techniques—from computation to medicinal chemistry—helps scientists pick better drug targets, often because of gaining a better understanding of how diseases work. Those improvements help patients and job hunters. Instead of reducing the opportunities in this field, the increasing specificity of the drug discovery business keeps spawning new opportunities in academia and industry.

The 2007 version of Science
’s annual survey of Top Employers features a tight race for first place among three companies. It also reveals the key ingredient for all successful employers: a commitment to innovative thinking throughout the product pipeline, from the laboratory to the clinic or marketplace.

Tremendous strides have been made in eradicating infectious disease scourges such as smallpox and polio that once killed and crippled millions; still, about 15 million deaths—or about one third of all deaths annually—result from infectious diseases worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. Of those, nearly half involve children under the age of 5 years, predominantly in poorer countries. The ongoing hefty death toll, the pharmaceutical industry’s increasing interest in the research and development of vaccines, and plentiful funding from multiple sources all combine to provide a range of opportunities for postdocs and graduate students in vaccine research. The field is high growth and, perhaps more important, the fruits of this work promise to have a real impact on the health of the world’s population.

This year's survey of top employers in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries has a familiar winner but plenty of shifting among other places in the top 20. The leading companies highlight a consistent theme: the importance of strong basic science as the platform on which to build reputations and commercial success.

Academic drug discovery is taking on a whole new character now, with technology and new partnerships between academia and industry and disease institutes and the government.

“There are not only opportunities for scientists in R&D and operations, but also in areas such as marketing, sales, and business development. We are always looking for talent in all these sectors, and we have openings and candidates for these positions all throughout the year.”

Many scientists opt for a research career in the pharmaceutical or biotech industry, so why not kick-start the process by also doing a postdoc in industry? Industrial postdocs often provide higher salaries and greater access to resources than their academic counterparts. But how do you find out about available positions and whether they are a good fit for you? Will a position as a postdoctoral fellow provide you a foot in the door at a company? And what if you don't like it? Will an industrial postdoc cut you off from returning to academia?