I'm a researcher in the US dealing primarily with nanotechnology. You could call it nanoengineering but I am more on the pure science side of things.
A significant part of what goes into research is, as Nighthawk mentioned, promoting your work. I have known ENTPs who are not so good at this. What happens is they promote their work a little bit, but then stop. You have to promote, and keep promoting, which is not so easy. Fortunately your PI will cover most of this work so it is not that bad.
A large part of it is also intelligence, and being able to not only understand very complex problems but also to teach yourself the material you need to understand related concepts. I think type does not have much to do with this.
Another part of it is also inventiveness, and coming up with new ideas that no one has tried before. This is the ENTP specialty.
Finally you have to actually do shit in the lab. Take your ideas and try them out. Get the data that supports your hypothesis. Then you have to write it up, which usually involves writing out these really long, dry, papers that no one ever really reads. This is the ENTP weakness, because you guys like to come up with new ideas, not implement them. But if you can overcome this weakness, you will be a pretty good researcher.