Affymetrix leads DNA microarray sector

Over the last decade, DNA microarray technology has evolved to become a powerful tool with which scientists can analyse the expression level of thousands of genes simultaneously.

In fact, this survey shows that the market for DNA microarrays is a fast-growing one, with 45 per cent of researchers expecting an increase in throughput over the next year. Additionally, 68 per cent of scientists at core labs plan to increase their throughput over the same period.

Interestingly, respondents who use both commercial arrays and arrays printed in-house are more likely to expect increased throughput.

The survey revealed that 81 per cent of researchers used commercial DNA microarrays, either exclusively or in addition to arrays printed in the lab or in a core facility.

Among these commercial array users, 75 per cent of scientists used Affymetrix​ arrays.

However other suppliers - such as Agilent Technologies and Applied Biosystems - are making inroads into this growing market, particularly in the areas of microarray scanners as well as data analysis software.

The results can be explained by the fact that scientists working in core labs often have different needs from end-user scientists.

Core lab scientists are more likely to use microarrays to analyse both DNA and RNA, while end-user scientists are much more likely to use RNA as a starting material.

Overall, microarrays are most often used for various types of expression profiling. Scientists in core labs are more likely to use arrays in drug discovery research, high throughput screening, comparative genomic hybridisation (CGH) and SNP detection and diagnostics, reflecting their analysis of both DNA and RNA templates as well as the diverse needs of their internal customers.

The survey found that 81 per cent of researchers use commercial DNA microarrays, either exclusively or in addition to arrays printed in the lab or in a core facility.

Among these commercial array users, 75 per cent of scientists use Affymetrix arrays.

However other suppliers - such as Agilent Technologies and Applied Biosystems - are making inroads into this growing market, particularly in the areas of microarray scanners and data analysis software.

In order to benchmark the current state of DNA microarray technology, BioInformatics, LLC published its latest report "The Market for DNA Microarrays: Core Lab & End-User Perspectives."

According to Robin Rothrock, director of Market Research at BioInformatics, LLC: "Given that this group of users demonstrate preference for both commercial and in-house arrays, suppliers who focus on understanding the circumstances in which such users select each source will be best positioned to transition those users to a higher proportion of commercial microarray utilisation,"​

The survey found that an emerging application for DNA microarrays would be their increasing presence in the clinical arena. Researchers reported a number of objectives that need to be met to ensure the future of DNA microarrays in clinical applications.

The need for comprehensive gene expression profile data is essential, as well as the ability to discriminate between closely related genes and guaranteed quality control/quality assurance.

Due to the volume of experiments that they perform, respondents who work in core labs felt that data integration must be improved for microarrays to be used in clinical applications.

Their counterparts who did not work in core labs feel that obtaining gene expression data over time, between tissues and among disease states is most important, reflecting that many of these researchers primarily use microarrays to analyse gene expression.

"In this growing but highly competitive market, a supplier who can find a way to enhance microarray quality in order to provide accurate and reproducible results - especially in the area of data standardization and integration - is the one who will succeed,"​ predicted Rothrock.

49 per cent of researchers said that they were highly satisfied with DNA array performance. Indeed overall satisfaction for data analysis software is high too.

However, there was a significant difference in satisfaction between researchers who use in-house custom software and those who use commercial software.

53 per cent of in-house software users were highly satisfied with the performance of their software, while 43 per cent of researchers who use commercial software were highly satisfied.