Main Sector
Lab Workers are scientists of the Galactic Federation. They wear Researcher Work Clothes and are often found on space stations, performing research on various subjects.
They are first seen in Super Metroid's title screen, where their corpses are littered around the container of the last living Metroid. The game's introduction reveals they are at the Ceres Space Colony, where Samus Aran has previously visited to personally deliver the baby to the Lab Workers before they are killed by Ridley. Prior to their deaths, they perform research on the Metroid and discover its powers can be used for the good of galactic society.
In Metroid: Other M, Lab Workers working under the ringleaders are seen on the BOTTLE SHIP, almost all whom have been killed by the bioweapons being illegally developed there. Samus comes across two corpses during gameplay, but others are seen alive during cutscenes and flashbacks. The first corpse is found in the Main Sector and is covered with green fluids; a Brug soon emerged from the body, implicating it and the nearby swarm of Brugs as the ones responsible for killing the Lab Worker. Samus later finds the second corpse in the Breeding Room of Sector 1 / Biosphere, killed by "Little Birdie", as the room is his former nest; his trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U implies that he is the one who killed the Lab Worker in question by stating that "he has no problem turning his caring owner into a tasty snack!"
In Metroid Fusion, a single dead Lab Worker is found in the Main Deck on the Biologic Space Laboratories research station. It can be safely assumed that the recent X Parasite outbreak led to the Lab Worker's death. This particular scientist was seemingly spared from the fate of the other crew members whom were presumably infected and converted into Zombie researchers. In the same game, a Core-X mimicking a scientist serves as a boss.
Trivia
- Lyle Smithsonian, one of Little Birdie's victims, is also covered in what appears to be green blood, which can lead to the assumption that the first Lab Worker corpse in Other M also fell to the same creature. However, Little Birdie's very first victim is not covered in green blood, putting his involvement with the corpse in the Main Sector in doubt. In addition, the previously mentioned presence of Brugs near the first Lab Worker leans more on the likelihood that they were responsible.
- The X are not known to leave bodies intact after infecting them. This suggests that the lone dead scientist on the B.S.L. station was killed by other means, and the X did not bother infecting the person either alive or dead.
