Comprising over half of the earth's biomass, microbes exert a pivotal influence on all of our lives. They are sources of infectious disease, integral components of the carbon cycle and life-sustaining residents within our own bodies. Furthermore, their influence over our fates has largely been unreciprocated. Only recently has science advanced to the point where we can exercise some control over microbial actions and even harness these organisms for our own purposes, beneficial as well as malevolent. Because microbes are so critical to human existence, a great deal of research has centered on finding ways to detect and identify bacteria, viruses, parasites and other microscopic life forms. Despite significant progress, the field of diagnostics has been hindered by the need to culture microbes before they can be identified. Resulting delays in the diagnosis of infections have led to the deaths of many patients from a wide variety of diseases and disorders. Additionally, it is estimated that over 95% of microorganisms present in an environmental sample cannot be cultured. Thus, emerging pathogens and new, potentially useful microorganisms may never be identified due to the limitations of culture-based analytical techniques. Fortunately, advances in the field of molecular biology recently have produced an array of exciting new approaches for rapid microbial analysis, which obviate the need for culture. Large-scale DNA sequencing projects and sensitive new methods for nucleic acid detection are providing a wealth of potential targets for vaccines and anti-microbial drugs as well as sensitive methods for rapidly detecting and identifying microorganisms. Epidemiology, agriculture, bioremediation, food safety, forensics and bioterrorism are just some of the fields that promise to benefit from DNA and RNA-based diagnostic techniques. The Market for Microbial Genotyping Products: Research and Testing Applications provides a thorough analysis of the methods and products that are used for nucleic acid-based microbial detection. Nearly 400 researchers and clinicians who participated in the survey identified the kits, reagents and instrumentation that they commonly use for microbial identification and analysis. Covering microarray applications, amplification technologies and clinical diagnostics, the report reveals which assays and product suppliers are most preferred by end users. Respondents also disclosed unmet needs and identified areas where companies can focus their efforts to capture market share. Report Highlights
The Market for Microbial Genotyping Products: Research and Testing Applications contains over 80 charts and/or tables and over 20 cross-tabulations for the 38 survey questions. Below is a glimpse of the key findings derived from just a few of the survey questions: • 35% of the respondents cited "human health" as the primary application of their microbial analysis/research. (Question 2) • "Products do not meet my specific research needs" (50%) and "price of instrumentation" (30%) were the main reasons 81% of the respondents do not use lab-on-a-chip products for microbial genotyping. (Question 8) • The most frequently encountered problems/limitations when using microbial genotyping assays are "cost per sample," "availability of commercial kits and reagents," "sample preparation" and "sensitivity." (Question 13) • Among the respondents involved in diagnostics/testing, 49% project that the number of samples analyzed per week will increase over the next year, with 36% predicting an increase of over 40%. (Question 22) • "Accuracy" (66%), "reproducibility" (46%) and "price" (45%) are the top product attributes sought in choosing one microbial genotyping assay over another. (Question 27) • Affymetrix, Eurogentec and MWG Biotech were the top commercial suppliers of DNA microarrays used for microbial genotyping. (Question 35 (electronic copy also includes 1 print copy)
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