Use a variety of specialized equipment, such as electron microscopes, gas and high-pressure liquid chromatographs, electrophoresis units, thermocyclers, fluorescence-activated cell sorters, and phosphorimagers.

“Use a variety of specialized equipment, such as electron microscopes, gas and high-pressure liquid chromatographs, electrophoresis units, thermocyclers, fluorescence-activated cell sorters, and phosphorimagers.” is a core task performed by Microbiologists. Among the occupation's 14 rated tasks, workers place it 9th by importance (#6 most important). About 91% of workers say it is relevant to their job.

This is a single occupation-specific task statement from O*NET. The figures below describe how central the task is to the job and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the task will be automated.

Work activities this task rolls up to

O*NET groups concrete tasks into broader work activities shared across many occupations.

• Operate laboratory or field equipment. in Controlling Machines and Processes

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E0. No direct exposure — current language models give little or no time savings on this task.

Exposure measures whether a model could meaningfully speed the task up — it is an estimate of overlap with model capabilities, not a measure of whether the work will be done by software. The study's intermediate score (β) for this task is 0.00. Automation potential label: T0.

Other tasks in this occupation

• Isolate and maintain cultures of bacteria or other microorganisms in prescribed or developed media, controlling moisture, aeration, temperature, and nutrition. · importance 4.6
• Provide laboratory services for health departments, community environmental health programs, and physicians needing information for diagnosis and treatment. · importance 4.3
• Monitor and perform tests on water, food, and the environment to detect harmful microorganisms or to obtain information about sources of pollution, contamination, or infection. · importance 4.3
• Examine physiological, morphological, and cultural characteristics, using microscope, to identify and classify microorganisms in human, water, and food specimens. · importance 4.3
• Supervise biological technologists and technicians and other scientists. · importance 4.2
• Investigate the relationship between organisms and disease, including the control of epidemics and the effects of antibiotics on microorganisms. · importance 4.1
• Prepare technical reports and recommendations, based upon research outcomes. · importance 4.0
• Research use of bacteria and microorganisms to develop vitamins, antibiotics, amino acids, grain alcohol, sugars, and polymers. · importance 3.7
• Observe action of microorganisms upon living tissues of plants, higher animals, and other microorganisms, and on dead organic matter. · importance 3.7
• Study growth, structure, development, and general characteristics of bacteria and other microorganisms to understand their relationship to human, plant, and animal health. · importance 3.6
• Study the structure and function of human, animal, and plant tissues, cells, pathogens, and toxins. · importance 3.5
• Develop new products and procedures for sterilization, food and pharmaceutical supply preservation, or microbial contamination detection. · importance 3.5
• Conduct chemical analyses of substances such as acids, alcohols, and enzymes. · importance 3.3

See all tasks on the Microbiologists page.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

@misc{singulariki-task-3683,
  title  = {Use a variety of specialized equipment, such as electron microscopes, gas and high-pressure liquid chromatographs, electrophoresis units, thermocyclers, fluorescence-activated cell sorters, and phosphorimagers.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/tasks/task-3683}
}