Overview
Nucleic acid purification is one of the few basic methods ubiquitous among scientists using the techniques of molecular biology to investigate such processes as gene expression, protein function and molecular interactions. The Nucleic Acid Purification Dashboard was developed from responses to a 37-question survey by over 430 scientists in North America and Europe. This Dashboard reveals key market indicators for the nucleic acid purification market as a whole as well as for the following sub-segments:

• Plasmid minipreps, midipreps and maxipreps
• Genomic DNA purification from cells & tissues and whole blood
• Total RNA purification from cells & tissues and whole blood
• mRNA purification
• miRNA purification

While in some segments, there appear to be commercial suppliers of nucleic acid purification products that are firmly entrenched market leaders, in other segments the market may actually be more fluid than expected.

In order to dive more deeply into the characteristics and dynamics of the market for nucleic acid purification products, Percepta has launched this initial Nucleic Acid Purification Dashboard, designed to take a snapshot of the current market landscape

Survey Methodology
In November/December of 2006, Percepta fielded three surveys to the company’s panel of research scientists:

• Nucleic Acid Purification and Amplification Survey
• Gene Silencing and Gene Expression Profiling Survey
• Mammalian Transfection and Cell Culture Survey

This report reveals the results of the Purification section of the Nucleic Acid Purification and Amplification Survey. The results of the Nucleic Acid Amplification Survey as well as the other two survey projects are available as separate Life Science Dashboard™ publications. Contact Percepta for more information on these additional reports.

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 November 13, 2006 and results collected through December 8. A total of 437 scientists completed the survey, of which 417 are actively engaged in the purification of nucleic acids.

Respondent Demographics
Respondents from both the academic/government and pharma/biotech market segments are well represented, with nearly 18% of respondents employed in an industry setting. About 75% of respondents are from North America, while 20% 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 (24.0% of respondents) and Lab Manager (13.6%).

A wide variety of scientific areas of specialization is also evident, led by cell biology and biochemistry (each named by 14.6% of respondents as their primary area of expertise), microbiology/ infectious disease/virology (13.2%) and genomics (9.6%).

Small (1-5 scientists), medium (6-20 scientists) and large (>20 scientists) laboratories are well represented: 34.8% of respondents work in labs where between 1 and 5 people perform experiments; 49.7% in labs with between 6 and 20 experimenters, and the remaining 16.0% in labs with greater than 20 bench scientists.