Scientists rely on bioinformatics during every step of the drug discovery process in an effort to comprehend biological and disease mechanisms, identify new targets and to select and design novel drugs. But while methods for sequencing, measuring expression, and assessing structure have achieved high-throughput capacity via automation, the means by which data is analyzed are lagging behind. By examining the software and hardware needs of drug discovery researchers, this report provides insights into how the collection, storage, cataloging, analysis and sharing of massive amounts of data can be improved. The investigation of end-user needs in Bioinformatics can be leveraged across several product categories with the goals of developing better products and expanding market penetration. To this end, the survey data has been placed in context by cross-tabulating it with the responses to an initial 14-question survey designed to provide baseline data on the nature of the respondent's drug discovery research. Included in these cross-tabulations are: the stage of research, type of research, disease targets, biological processes studied, and other related products and services used regularly. The results of the seven surveys conducted for this unique series of reports clearly show that past distinctions between the stages of drug discovery are diminishing. Bioinformatics is structured to reflect the market's integration, while highlighting end-user problems that represent exciting market opportunities for life science suppliers. Report Highlights
Along with a comprehensive overview of significant findings, Bioinformatics contains detailed charts and graphs depicting the answers to all 29-survey questions and over 20 cross-tabulations. Below is a glimpse of the key findings derived from just a few of the survey questions: • Respondents cite "expertise" (25%) as the most common reason for choosing their current bioinformatics arrangement. (Question 4)
• "Multiple sequence comparison and alignment" (59%) is the most common type of data analysis performed by the respondents. (Question 10)
• Respondents note that their labs experience several different performance/operational limitations of their bioinformatics tools, with "confusing command interfaces" (19%) being most common. (Question 15)
• Respondents note that "uptime" (35%) would be the most significant improvement to their lab's/group's bioinformatics hardware. (Question 17)
• InforMax (10%) is the company most frequently mentioned when the respondents were asked which company/supplier comes to mind when they think of bioinformatics products/services. (Question 18) (Electronic copy also includes 1 print copy) | 
