The votes of more than 3,000 scientists from around the world are in and the finalists of the 2004 Life Science Industry Awards have been determined.

Sponsored by The Scientist (http://www.the-scientist.com) and supported by The Science Advisory Board (http://www.scienceboard.net) and leading market research firm BioInformatics, LLC (http://www.gene2drug.com), these prestigious awards recognize those life science suppliers with the best solution in 12 separate product categories as well as suppliers that are “best-in-class” in six customer communications and support categories.

“Most scientists are dependent upon instrumentation and specialized software in the lab, but rarely is there acknowledgment of excellence for laboratory equipment and services. Thus, we’ve designed these awards as an opportunity for researchers to cast their votes for the companies that have made the greatest contributions to life science technology in the past year,” said Alexander Grimwade, Publisher of The Scientist magazine.

To ensure complete accuracy and fairness in selecting the winners, The Scientist asked BioInformatics to develop and field the survey of more than 3,000 scientists. Based on the survey results, the top three finalists in each of the following categories—a total of 18 different companies—have been announced:

- Cell biology kits and reagents ---- BD Biosciences (BDX), Invitrogen (IVGN), Qiagen (QGENF)
- Cell biology instrumentation ---- BD Biosciences, Bio-Rad (BIO), Carl Zeiss (CZMWF)
- Cell culture media, equipment & reagents ---- BD Biosciences, Invitrogen, Sigma-Aldrich (SIAL)
- Expression analysis products ---- Amersham/GE Healthcare, Applied Biosystems (ABI), Invitrogen
- High throughput screening & analysis systems ---- Affymetrix (AFFX), Applied Biosystems, Invitrogen
- Image analysis systems ---- Bio-Rad, Carl Zeiss, Kodak Scientific (EK)
- Instrumentation for genomic analysis ---- Affymetrix, Applied Biosystems, Bio-Rad
- Instrumentation for protein analysis ---- Amersham/GE Healthcare (GE), Bio-Rad, Invitrogen
- Nucleic acid purification & analysis products ---- Invitrogen, Promega, Qiagen
- Protein purification & analysis products ---- Amersham/GE Healthcare, Bio-Rad, Pierce (FSH)
- RNAi products ---- Ambion, Dharmacon (FSH), Invitrogen
- Software ---- Accelrys (ACCL), DNAStar, Spotfire
- Print catalog ---- Invitrogen, New England Biolabs, Sigma-Aldrich
- Customer service ---- Bio-Rad, Invitrogen, Sigma-Aldrich
- Technical support ---- Amersham/GE Healthcare, Invitrogen, Sigma-Aldrich
- Web site ---- BD Biosciences, Invitrogen, Sigma-Aldrich
- Sales representatives ---- Amersham/GE Healthcare, Bio-Rad, Invitrogen
- Print advertisement ---- Amersham/GE Healthcare, Bio-Rad, Invitrogen

To honor these top companies for their outstanding performance and present the awards to the winners, The Scientist and BioInformatics will host an evening cocktail reception on December 6th at the Renaissance Washington, D.C. Hotel, which will coincide with the American Society of Cell Biology Meeting. The Master of Ceremonies for the event will be noted science communicator, Ira Flatow, host and Executive Producer of National Public Radio's Science Friday, and author of "They All Laughed... From Light Bulbs to Lasers: The Fascinating Stories Behind the Great Inventions That Have Changed Our Lives."

For more information on attending this event, please visit http://www.LifeScienceIndustryAwards.com, or contact Kylie Harvey at e-mail protected from spam bots or 703.778.3080 x14.

About the Scientist
The Scientist (http://www.the-scientist.com) is an international news magazine published in print and on the Web. It circulates to 70,000 researchers in print and over 500,000 monthly on the Web. It offers a unique blend of authoritative editorial content covering the people, companies, technologies and innovations that are transforming the life sciences. With its forward-looking perspectives and insightful analysis of the topics most important to researchers, The Scientist magazine is the premier source of life science news and information about cutting-edge events, notable discoveries, career issues, and laboratory products and their vendors.

About Bioinformatics, LLC
BioInformatics, LLC (http://www.gene2drug.com) is a market research firm located in Arlington, Virginia. BioInformatics supports marketing, sales and R&D executives in the life science, medical device and pharmaceutical industries through published research reports, custom research and consulting. BioInformatics sponsors the world’s largest market research panel of scientific customers—The Science Advisory Board (http://www.scienceboard.net)—which consists of more than 22,000 scientists, physicians and other life science and medical professionals from 67 countries who participate in surveys that address emerging technologies, test customer reactions to new product concepts, measure brand awareness and assess advertising effectiveness.

For more information, please contact:
Alexander M. Grimwade, Ph.D.
The Scientist, LLC
215.351.1660 x3020
e-mail protected from spam bots

Alyssa Martin
BioInformatics, LLC
703.778.3080 x12
e-mail protected from spam bots