ACADEMIA

A new report from Biocompare, Inc., based on a survey of over 600 life science researchers, reveals that researchers identify Affymetrix as the leading company among the many players in the Gene Expression Analysis market. However, Invitrogen and Applied Biosystems are close behind, with these three companies dominating the market. When survey participants were asked to write down what company comes to mind when thinking about gene expression analysis products, the most popular responses were Affymetrix (21%), Invitrogen (17%), and Applied Biosystems (13%). These three companies make up over half of all responses of more than 25 companies identified. Affymetrix and Applied Biosystems were early players in the DNA microarray and real-time PCR (qPCR) markets respectively, thus both companies have established strong brand recognition in these markets. The fact that Invitrogen was the second most popular response is somewhat unexpected, although this is most likely due to their strength in the qPCR and RNAi reagent markets. "We expected to see Affymetrix and Applied Biosystems near the top but we didn't realize Invitrogen would be so well recognized for gene expression analysis products," commented Mari Sciabica Capps, Director of Surveys and Reports for Biocompare. "It seems that Invitrogen has been able to make a name for themselves in this market by offering a comprehensive reagent product line and bioinformatics software." The survey also revealed that researchers are particularly concerned with the high costs of performing gene expression analysis and it may be preventing them from fully investing in this technology. When asked what one improvement they would like to see in DNA Microarray systems, the most popular response was "less expensive arrays." Other common requests were "better sensitivity" and "better reproducibility." However, when asked the same question about bioinformatics software, the majority of participants indicated they wanted it to be more user-friendly rather than less expensive. The report, Gene Expression Analysis: Tools of the Trade, available from Biocompare, Inc. explores the technologies researchers are currently using for gene expression analysis, including DNA microarrays, real-time PCR, and bioinformatics, as well as future purchasing plans. More information about this and other reports available from Biocompare can be found at: http://www.biocompare.com/research .