A professional who studies inheritance and variation of characteristics in forms of life. Responsibilities include:

• Performs experiments to determine laws, mechanisms, and environmental factors in origin, transmission, and development of inherited traits.
• Analyzes determinants responsible for specific inherited traits, such as color differences, size, and disease resistance to improve or to understand relationship of heredity to maturity, fertility, or other factors.
• Devises methods for altering or producing new traits, making use of chemicals, heat, light, or other means.
• May specialize in particular branch of genetics, such as molecular genetics or population genetics.
• May perform human genetic counseling or medical genetics.