The Future of Biotechnology Instrumentation

The field of biotechnology instrumentation has been an expanding one ever since the emergence of the Human Genome Project 20 years ago. Although the filed certainly existed prior to that point in time, it was the Human Genome Project with its major access to key universities, national laboratories, and government funding sources that gave great acceleration to the field.

There are several technologies applicable to genomic and proteomic analysis, all of which have become important to the nature of the field. All are capable of providing information essential to various aspects of biotechnological testing. Some of these technologies are integral; others are ancillary. Some are widely used; others are not. Some are highly adaptable to automation (or are essentially automation technologies); others are less so. The issue regarding all of these technologies is whether or not their status as automated, instrumented technologies, will change over the next ten years.

This report focuses on the development of advanced biotechnology instrumentation technology including the following key areas:

• Chromatography (specifically HPLC)
• Electrophoresis
• Microarray Technology
• Immunoassay
• Imaging
• Mass Spectrometry

The major market effects of new and advanced biotechnology analysis instrumentation are currently being seen in product life extension efforts and will be seen with greater impact in the five to ten years. This report considers the options that the current technologies present, the progress that is being made in these fields, and the reception these new products are likely to experience in the marketplace. The report focuses on the applications of advanced biotechnology instrumentation, the improvements expected in existing instrumentation, and the facilitation of the delivery and commercialization of new analysis technologies and instrumentation.

For each instrumentation area, the report provides:

• a review of existing methods and applications
• key suppliers and their technologies
• a discussion of the technical and strategic future of the field

In addition, extensive, in-depth profiles of ten players—representing a diverse cross-section of instrument suppliers—and eight conclusions with strategic implications round out this considered analysis of a dynamic and underexamined field.

The analysis presented in this report is based on data from a combination of company, government, industrial, institutional and private sources. It includes information from extensive literature reviews, as well as interviews and discussions with experts in the field, including experts in genomic and proteomic analysis, as well business development and marketing managers engaged in the field.