Overview
Nucleic acid amplification is one of the most commonly performed molecular biology techniques and is a necessary precursor to a range of methods from gene cloning and site-directed mutagenesis to the quantitative analysis of gene expression. The Nucleic Acid Amplification Dashboard was developed from responses to a 21-question survey by 485 scientists predominantly located in North America and Europe. This Dashboard reveals key market indicators for the nucleic acid amplification market as a whole as well as for the following sub-segments:

• Standard PCR with Taq polymerase, hot start Taq polymerase and proofreading polymerases
• qPCR with Taq polymerase and with hot start Taq polymerase
• qRT-PCR with Taq polymerase and with hot start Taq polymerase
• Instruments for Standard and Real Time PCR

While standard protocols may be well-defined, amplification markets are quite fluid, with significant influence from such external sources as:

• An evolving intellectual property landscape
• New pricing strategies from established suppliers
• Application to emerging research areas such as gene silencing, SNP genotyping and rapid, whole genome sequencing

In order to dive more deeply into the characteristics and dynamics of the market for nucleic acid amplification products, Percepta has introduced the Nucleic Acid Amplification Dashboard, designed to take a snapshot of the current market landscape with the future goal of repeating and publishing the study to give Dashboard readers the ongoing story of how the market is adapting to new products, new competitors and new sales and marketing strategies.

Survey Methodology
In June of 2009, Percepta fielded the Nucleic Acid Purification Survey to a subset of the Percepta BioAnalytix™ Panel of life scientists. Individuals were invited by e-mail blast to click-through to a webpage at perceptabioanalytix.com where the survey was hosted. Invitations were delivered beginning on June 1, 2009 and results collected through June 11, 2009. A total of 485 scientists participated in the survey, of which 442 are actively engaged in performing nucleic acid amplification and 12 plan to use nucleic acid amplification methods in the next 12 months. Results based on the aggregate of collected responses are revealed in this Nucleic Acid Amplification Dashboard.

Important Note: This report only includes analyses related to the research market for nucleic acid amplification products and also includes the market for products used in molecular diagnostic assays.

A NOTE REGARDING ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS REPORT
“Standard or endpoint PCR” – may be abbreviated as “PCR” in this report
“Standard or endpoint reverse transcription PCR” – may be abbreviated as RT-PCR.
“Quantitative Real Time PCR” or “Quantitative PCR”– may be abbreviated as “qRT-PCR” and “qPCR” respectively in this report. qRT-PCR refers to amplification of cDNA and/or RNA templates while qPCR refers to amplification of genomic DNA templates. Product accumulation is analyzed during the reaction.

Respondent Demographics
Respondents from the academic, government and commercial market segments are well represented, with 19.0% of respondents employed in an industry setting. 73.9% of respondents are from North America, while 24.9% reside in Europe.
Junior (Lab Technician, Graduate Student), mid level (Post-Doctoral Fellow, 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 (23.7% of respondents), Lab Manager (14.6%), and Professor/PI (14.4%).

A wide variety of scientific areas of specialization is also evident, led by biochemistry (named by 15.1% of respondents as their primary area of expertise), followed by cell biology (14.7%), microbiology/infectious disease/virology (13.6%) and genomics (8.9%).

Small (1-5 scientists), medium (6-20 scientists) and large (>20 scientists) laboratories are well represented: 39.8% of respondents work in labs where 1 to 5 people perform experiments; 45.7% in labs with 6 to 20 experimenters, and the remaining 14.6% in labs with greater than 20 bench scientists.