geneticist

n.
One who specializes in genetics.

Genetics intersects almost every other field of biology. For this reason, professionals with a genetics education have a broad range of career opportunities. The recent success of the Human Genome Project has created a great demand for genetics professionals with a variety of expertise in all areas of genetics, not only those applicable to human disease.

Geneticists are involved in identifying genes responsible for basic biological traits, including genes that cause disease or mediate a response to a medication. Geneticists also determine how those genes function in organisms, including plants, animals, and humans. They may treat individuals with a particular genetic disorder or counsel families regarding the genetics of human disease. Geneticists are also involved in identifying genetic mechanisms to improve agricultural processes, such as breeding pest-resistant fruits and vegetables. Geneticists are also interested in the distribution of genetic variations in populations and how those variations arise. Additional job responsibilities may include educating students and the general public, lobbying Congress to pass bills to support genetic research, and testifying in legal cases on the probability that a suspect committed a crime, based on evidence from DNA forensics.

Because the responsibilities of geneticists are highly varied, the educational requirements of geneticists are also quite varied. Individuals with a bachelor's degree are qualified to perform many laboratory procedures, but most often individuals in the field of genetics will obtain a graduate degree. Those geneticists with master's degrees include highly skilled laboratory geneticists and genetic counselors. Geneticists who direct their own research projects must have a Ph.D. in genetics or an M.D. with specialty training in genetics.

Geneticists with a Ph.D. are highly trained professionals who perform genetic research in the areas of expertise mentioned above. Individuals with an M.D. are uniquely skilled in the treatment of patients with genetic disorders and are also often involved in research projects. Many individuals combine a genetics education with learning in other subjects, such as business, law, or computer science. Once having obtained the proper education, geneticists will find job opportunities at academic centers (such as colleges and universities), in government agencies (such as the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation), and in industry (for example, pharmacogenetics companies). The salaries paid to genetics professionals will range from $25,000 to well over $100,000, depending on the level of education, area of educational expertise, and job environment (academic, federal, or industrial).

A career in genetics can be exciting; and this is true for all areas of education, expertise, and job environment. It is exhilarating to have the opportunity to participate in research that impacts the treatment of a disease, or improves the crop yield for farmers, or helps correctly identify individuals who commit crimes.

Bibliography

Internet Resources

Careers in Genetics and the Biosciences. Human Genome Project. http://www.ornl.gov/hgmis/education/careers.html.

Genetics: Educational Information. Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. http://www.faseb.org/genetics/careers.htm.

—Allison Ashley-Koch

Adherents of a prescriptive theoretical model for economic development planning in a controversy of the 1920s.

The geneticists participated in an important theoretical controversy with the teleologists over the nature and potential limits to economic planning. The issue was fundamental and cut to the heart of the very possibility of central planning. Would a central planning agency be constrained by economic laws, such as supply and demand, or by other fixed economic regularities, such as sector proportions, or could planners operate to shape the economic future according to their own preferences?

The geneticists argued that it was necessary to base economic plans on careful study of economic laws and historical determinants of economic activity. The past and certain general laws constrained any plan outcome. In this view, planning was essentially a form of forecasting. The teleologists argued on the contrary that planners should set their objectives independently of such constraints, that planning could seek to override market forces to achieve maximum results focused on decisive development variables, such as investment. Proponents of the geneticist view included Nikolai Kondratiev and Vladimir Groman and were well disposed to the New Economic Policy (NEP) of the 1920s. The teleologists included Stanislav Strumilin and Pavel Feldman who were less well disposed toward the NEP and believed it would be possible to force economic development through binding industrial and enterprising targets.

The argument became quite heated and over-simplified. The degree of freedom of action that the geneticists allowed planners was miniscule, and it appeared that planning would involve little more than filling in plan output cells based almost entirely on historical carryover variables. The teleologists claimed a degree of latitude to planners that was almost total. In the end the geneticists lost, and Soviet planning followed the teleologists' approach: it consisted of a set of comprehensive targets designed to force both the pace and the character of development. Soviet experience over the long run, however, suggests that the geneticists were closer to the mark concerning constraints on development.

Bibliography

Gregory, Paul R., and Stuart, Robert C. (1990). Soviet Economic Structure and Performance, 4th ed. New York: Harper Collins.

Millar, James R. (1981). The ABCs of Soviet Socialism. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

—JAMES R. MILLAR

A specialist in genetics.

Dansk (Danish)
n. - genetiker, arvelighedsforsker

Nederlands (Dutch)
geneticus

Français (French)
n. - généticien

Deutsch (German)
n. - Genetiker

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (βιολ.) γενετιστής

Italiano (Italian)
genetista

Português (Portuguese)
n. - geneticista (m) (Biol.)

Русский (Russian)
генетик

Español (Spanish)
n. - genetista

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - ärftlighetsforskare

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
遗传学者

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 遺傳學者

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 유전학자

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 遺伝学者

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) اختصاصي في علم الوراثه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮גנטיקאי/ת, חוקר גנטיקה‬

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