Glossary
Biological Technician Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential biological technician terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key biological technician vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in biological technician training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Aseptic technique
- Preventing contamination.
- Assay
- A test that measures something.
- Autoclave
- Sterilizes equipment.
- BSL
- Biosafety level.
- Buffer
- A solution that resists pH change.
- Cell culture
- Growing cells in the lab.
- Centrifuge
- Spins samples to separate them.
- Control
- A comparison sample.
- ELN
- Electronic lab notebook.
- Gel electrophoresis
- Separating DNA by size.
- PCR
- Polymerase chain reaction to copy DNA.
- Pipetting
- Measuring small volumes.
- Protocol
- Step-by-step instructions.
- Reagent
- A substance used in a reaction.
- Replicate
- A repeated sample.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Biological Technician practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Biological Technician training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.