There are 3 mainstreams in IT field. Programming, Database, and Networking. I cannot tell you which is suitable for you.
I suggest you talk the IT people in your local city and ask them to enlighten you.
To become a qualified IT worker, one needs to learn a lot of things. I understand you are a competen computer user. But it is another thing to become a professional.
Since you are abiochemistry researcher, let me remind you that
you know organic chemistry, inorganic chemsitry, analystic chemistry, physiology, molecular biology, .... of course, biochemistry. Likewise, if you want to do IT jobs, you need know many things and be specialized in some fields.
One suggest I can give you. Have a good computer with 256 MB RAM at home. Set up Windows NT or 2000 environment. Please don't use Windown 95/98 or Windows me for professional training. Many people want to learn IT but they don't have a professional envirenments...