Cell Culture Dashboard: Series Two

Abstract

The growth and propagation of mammalian cells in culture is a routine but critical precursor to the investigation of such fundamental cellular processes as gene expression and protein function and to the development of therapeutics. This Cell Culture Dashboard was developed based upon the aggregated responses to a 22-question survey completed by more than 400 scientists predominantly located in North America and Europe. This Dashboard reveals key market indicators for the research market for cell culture products as a whole as well as for the following product segments:

• Basal media
• Fetal bovine serum
• Animal sera
• Balanced salt solutions
• Serum free media
• Dry powdered media
• Growth and attachment factors

Percepta' s 2008 Cell Culture Dashboard™ is a deep dive into the characteristics and dynamics of the market for cell culture products. This 2008 Dashboard provides a snapshot of the current market landscape that can be compared with data from the 2007 Cell Culture Dashboard, providing an ongoing story of how the market is adapting to new products, new competitors and new sales and marketing strategies.

Survey Methodology

In November of 2008, Percepta fielded the Mammalian Cell Culture Survey to a subset of the Percepta BioAnalytix™ Panel of life scientists. Individuals were invited by e-mail blast to click through to a webpage at perceptabioanalytix.com where the survey was hosted. Invitations were delivered on November 11, 2008 and results collected through December 16, 2008. A total of 488 scientists participated in the survey, of which 405 are actively engaged in performing mammalian cell culture and 7 plan to culture mammalian cells in the next 12 months. Results based on the aggregate of collected responses are revealed in this Cell Culture Dashboard.

Important Note: This report only includes analyses related to the research market for cell culture products and not the market for products used in bioproduction or pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Respondents from the academic, government and commercial market segments are well represented. 55.7% of respondents work at universities/colleges/medical schools; 10.2% are employed at hospitals/medical centers. 12.9% of respondents work for biotechnology companies; 10.0% are employed by pharmaceutical companies. Overall, 24.1% of respondents work in industrial laboratories.

73.6% of respondents are from North America (65.0% in the United States and 8.6% in Canada), while 25.6% 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 (21.9% of respondents) and Professor/Principal Investigator (17.8%).

A wide variety of scientific areas of specialization is also evident, led by cell biology (indicated by 30.0% of respondents as their primary area of expertise), biochemistry (12.5%), microbiology/infectious disease/ virology (8.2%) immunology (7.8%) and oncology (5.5%).

Small (1-5 scientists), medium (6-20 scientists) and large (>20 scientists) laboratories are well represented. 45.2% of respondents are from laboratories where between 1 and 5 scientists perform cell culture. 45.7% of respondents work in labs where between 6 and 20 people culture mammalian cells, while the remaining 9.2% are from labs where more than 20 people perform this technique.