The Life Science Industry Awards® are unique in that they allow thousands of scientists to individually vote for their favorite life science supplier companies in multiple product and service categories. BioInformatics LLC has solicited nominations from registered members of The Science Advisory Board®—the world's largest market research panel of scientific consumers.

Between August 16 and August 31, BioInformatics LLC fielded an electronic survey to solicit nominations from The Science Advisory Board. Respondents were asked to nominate the life science companies they felt warranted consideration in multiple award categories. The companies with the most nominations are listed as answer choices in their respective categories on the ballot.

4,591 scientists then electronically cast their vote in multiple award categories between September 21, 2011 and October 18, 2011. The winners for each award category were determined by statistical analysis of the results. Included in each category is a "best-in-class" ranking chart that identifies the top Finalists for that category and indicates which supplier ultimately placed in the top positions.

On October 27th, Bill Kelly, President of BioInformatics, LLC, gave a presentation delving in to the methodology used to determine the finalists and winners from the volumes of data collected during the voting process. You can see a PDF of the slideshow used for this presentation here. If you have QuickTime enabled in your browser, you can also check out the audio here.

If you have trouble downloading either of these, or if you'd like to discuss the awards methodology "in person," feel free to contact us! info@lifescienceindustryawards.com or 703-778-3080, ext. 29.

The categories are as follows:

Instrumentation (7)

Best performing in 2011...

• Flow cytometer-based cell analysis instruments
• Cell biology instruments—Microscope-based
• General lab equipment (e.g., centrifuges, PCR machines, gel boxes, etc.)
• High throughput screening and analysis systems (i.e., automated systems employing miniaturized assay formats)
• High throughput sequencing platforms (e.g., next generation sequencing instruments, third generation sequencing instruments)
• Instrumentation for genomic analysis (e.g., DNA analyzers, sequencing instruments, real-time PCR machines, etc.)
• Instrumentation for protein analysis and purification (e.g., HPLC, other chromatography systems, mass spectrometry, microcalorimeters, SPR instrumentation, etc.)

Consumables (8)

Best performing in 2011...

• Antibodies
• Cell biology products (e.g., immunoassays, cell-based assays, apoptosis assays, cell signaling kits, etc.)
• Cell culture media and reagents (e.g., antibiotics, growth factors, sera, etc.)
• Genomic analysis kits and reagents (e.g., microarrays, real-time PCR, PCR, RT-PCR, sequencing, genotyping, RNAi, etc.)
• Molecular biology products (e.g., enzymes, oligos, DNA ladders, cloning kits, etc.)
• Nucleic acid purification and separation products (i.e., products used for the purification, separation and isolation, and measuring of DNA and RNA)
• Protein expression and analysis (e.g., biomarkers, protein arrays, etc.)
• Protein purification and separation products (i.e., products used for the purification, separation and isolation, and measuring of peptides and/or proteins)

Communication & Support (7)

• Best use of the Internet and/or social media in 2011
• Helping to make laboratory funding go the furthest in 2011
• Most responsive customer service department in 2011
• Most knowledgeable technical support department in 2011
• Most memorable advertisement in 2011
• Most useful website in 2011
• Most helpful sales reps

Research & Technology (7)

• Breakthrough product in Cancer Research for 2011
• Breakthrough product in Neuroscience Research for 2011
• Breakthrough product in Microbiology Research for 2011
• Breakthrough product in Stem Cell Research for 2011
• Comprehensive product offering in 2011 that best meets my genomic workflow needs
• Comprehensive product offering in 2011 that best meet my proteomic workflow needs
• Comprehensive product offering in 2011 that best meets my cellular workflow needs