Cell Culture is among one of the most widely used research methods in life science laboratories globally, and is present in 73% of the laboratories recently polled by Percepta (see figure).

This large market has the attention of many suppliers wanting their fair share of the…

In October 2013, we polled users of protein analysis products in the U.S. to understand how, if at all, budget sequestration has affected their lab’s purchase of protein analysis products.  Results reveal that both non-profit and for-profit researchers are impacted by budget sequestration as approximately 56% of non-profit and 29% of for-profit respondents indicated budget sequestration has definitely affected…

In places where controlling tuberculosis (TB) is a concern, there is an urgent need for simple, inexpensive diagnostics that can identify active TB, particularly in the context of HIV infection. In a recent paper (PLoS Medicine, October 22, 2013), researchers discovered that a unique RNA transcriptional signature found in whole blood could distinguish TB from other diseases including HIV…

During drug development, it’s critical to monitor cellular responses to promising compounds, which includes keeping tabs on the activities of various gene promoters. Researchers from the RIKEN Center for Life Science Technologies report a new method to accomplish that, using the advanced gene expression analysis method CAGE followed by single-molecule sequencing.

Click to enlarge. Original image…

The Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research was awarded $8.1 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to conduct a novel clinical trial using whole genome sequencing to test women and their partners, before they actually conceive, for mutations that could cause rare, but serious diseases in their offspring.

The project is part of the Clinical Sequencing Exploratory Research…

Biopharmaceutical companies, being in a regulated industry, have always been focused on meeting quality requirements and controlling their supply chain. However, in the past few years they have had to deal with increasingly stringent regulatory demands to demonstrate that they are in control of not only their internal manufacturing processes, but the manufacturing processes of their raw material vendors…

If you are looking for ways to communicate with researchers that identify themselves as immunology researchers, some of Percepta’s latest data suggests the popularity of various information sources spans a pretty broad spectrum. Search engines still rank high as a place immunologist look for product information. Also popular are peer recommendations, journal citations and company web sites, with more…

As has been shown again and again, seemingly homogeneous cell populations often consist of more than one cell type, which can confound research results. Single-cell research offers a bottom-up approach to circumventing such unwanted cellular heterogeneity. As a testament to its potential promise, the NIH has committed ~$90 million over 5 years to single cell analysis research. At Percepta,…

It was a hectic close to 2010 which shows us that biotools industry is alive and healthy! Though the future economic environment for the globe remains uncertain and public funding levels for life sciences in the US may plataue of or even dip in 2011, there were several things that we noticed at Percepta that we believe will be…

In the recent few quarters Percepta has experienced an increase in demand for studies relating to better serving the pharmaceutical industry. The focus of the studies have varied considerably but the trend is evident. This tells us bio-tools companies are getting more serious about tailoring an offering to the drug discovery and development market that will resonate with the…