Overview
RNA interference continues to emerge as a integral tool used to study the physiological role of gene products in vivo. RNAi-based methods allow researchers to modulate and in many cases virtually eliminate expression of a gene of interest. Systems for delivering RNAs into cells for the purpose of gene silencing include standard transfection technologies, both instrument-mediated and lipid-based, as well as plasmid and viral systems for the inducible expression of siRNAs in vivo.

Percepta’s 2008 Gene Silencing Dashboard™ dives deeply into the characteristics and dynamics of the market for gene silencing products. This 2008 Dashboard provides a snapshot of the current market landscape that can be compared with data from the 2007 Gene Silencing Dashboard, providing an ongoing story of how the market is adapting to new products, new competitors and new sales and marketing strategies.

The Gene Silencing Dashboard™ was developed from responses to a 21-question survey completed by 353 scientists predominantly located in North America and Europe. This Dashboard reveals key market indicators for the gene silencing market as a whole as well as for the following methods representing market sub-segments:

• RNAi screens using siRNA libraries (sets of 50 or more siRNAs)
• Inducing siRNAs in vivo from a plasmid or other vector in cells
• Digesting long dsRNA in vivo using dicer or other enzymes
• Expressing siRNA in vitro for delivery into cells
• Using PCR mediated siRNA expression cassettes to generate siRNAs
• Instrument mediated delivery of synthetic siRNAs into cells
• Lipid mediated delivery of synthetic siRNAs into cells
• Instrument mediated delivery of plasmids into cells for plasmid-based gene knockdown
• Lipid mediated delivery of plasmids into cells for plasmid-based gene knockdown
• Viral delivery of vectors into cells for vector-based gene knockdown
• Using reporter systems to track gene knockdown

This report presents changes observed in the 2008 Gene Silencing Dashboard data set in comparison to the 2007 Series One Gene Silencing Dashboard.

Survey Methodology
In August of 2008, Percepta fielded the Gene Silencing Survey to a subset of the company’s panel of life scientists. Individuals were invited by e-mail blast to click through to a webpage at bioanalytix.com where the survey was hosted. Invitations were delivered on August 1, 2008 and results collected through August 6. A total of 353 scientists completed the survey, of which 259 are actively engaged in performing gene silencing experiments and 94 plan to perform gene silencing experiments in the future. Results based on the aggregate of collected responses are revealed in this Gene Silencing Dashboard.

Respondent Demographics
Respondents from the academic, government and commercial market segments are well represented, with 15.8% of respondents employed in an industry setting. 82.2% of respondents are from North America, while 15.3% reside in Europe.

Junior (Lab Tech, Grad Students), mid level (Post-Doc, Lab Manager) and senior (Professor/PI, Group Leader) scientists are well represented in the data set, with the most cited job titles being Scientist/Senior Scientist (19.0% of respondents) and Post-Doctoral Fellow (17.0%).

A wide variety of scientific areas of specialization is also evident, led by molecular biology (named by 30.9% of respondents as their primary area of expertise) and cell biology (named by 11.0% of respondents). Biochemistry (9.6%), oncology and immunology (7.1% each) are the only other applications named by more than 6% of respondents.

Small (1-5 scientists), medium (6-20 scientists) and large (>20 scientists) laboratories are well represented: 38.0% of respondents work in labs where 1 to 5 people perform experiments; 50.1% in labs with 6 to 20 experimenters, and the remaining 11.9% in labs with greater than 20 bench scientists.

66.6% of respondents indicated that 1 to 3 people in their laboratories perform gene silencing experiments. An additional 17.0% of survey participants revealed that 4 or 5 individuals perform gene silencing experiments in their labs. Only 6.7% of respondents work in labs where greater than 10 people perform gene silencing experiments.