Wellesley, MA (PRWEB) May 12, 2013
The global electrophoresis market was worth nearly $1.35 billion in 2011 and $1.4 billion in 2012. The market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4% over the next five years to reach nearly $1.8 billion by 2018.
The expanding realm of molecular profiling applications is providing continued demand for this technology, although electrophoresis exhibits characteristics of a mature market. Nucleic acid and protein separation are the two major applications of this technology.
The electrophoresis market is broadly segmented into gel electrophoresis (GE) and capillary electrophoresis (CE) technologies. A new complementary technology that is gaining commercial significance is the lab-on-a-chip/microfluidics technology. Electrophoresis has been one of the most successful applications of the growing microfluidics technology market.
Genomics applications have fueled the demand for GE systems in the past. The ongoing quest to unravel the human proteome has provided the impetus for protein GE predominantly carried out by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D PAGE) method. The expanding proteomics research pursuits have deemed the 2D PAGE/slab gel technique as the most reliable platform, owing to its ability to resolve and measure posttranslational modified protein entities.
The modestly growing DNA sequencing market along with soft demand from life sciences research laboratories and cautious spending of biopharmaceuticals have had an impact on the overall growth of CE techniques. Fortunately, the ascent of microfluidics/lab-on-a-chip technology is revitalizing the CE technology market. Therefore, the net impact of these factors is expected to account for the estimated CAGR of 5.5% between 2013 and 2018.
Both CE and GE technologies rely heavily on aftermarket reagents and supplies. The presence of a high installed base for electrophoresis instruments and the low replacement rate for these instruments has slowed down sales of these systems. The broadening of research applications along with existing installed base has ensured sustained demand for aftermarket reagents and supplies.
As for the GE reagents segment, precast gels are anticipated to grow at the cost of handmade gels as researchers are willing to invest in these ready-made gels. The use of mini-gels instead of the established large-format gels has gained prominence among the research community.
The use of nonfilm imaging techniques such as infrared imaging is gaining momentum and is anticipated to supplant traditional film-based imaging methods through the course of the forecast period. The development of cooled charge coupled devices (CCD) and laser scanners has substantially improved detection capabilities of gel imaging systems.
The technology developments in the gel imaging segment are accompanied by corresponding progress seen in gel informatics. Informatics vendors are taking many initiatives to address the growing concern of reproducibility in the 2D gel technique by sophisticated signal analysis algorithms that reflect true biological outcomes. Gel informatics is likely to witness the highest growth compared to the other product segments during the forecast period (2013 to 2018).
The global market landscape is composed of both multinational and regional market participants, with North America and Europe dominating the market. The growth of the Asia-Pacific market in recent years made this market lucrative for multinational instrument companies to expand their presence in the developing nations. The majority of the overall electrophoresis market is controlled by top-tier participants. Brand recognition, product pricing, and scope-of-product offerings for different applications coupled with the ability to respond to changing customer needs are some key competitive factors to stay ahead in this market.
Despite the growing trend of alternative gel-free techniques, electrophoresis is likely to continue to maintain its presence and is not likely to be completely replaced in the near future. Both gel and capillary methods are expected to be used as complementary technologies, along with several other analytical approaches to separate biologically important macromolecules.
ELECTROPHORESIS TECHNOLOGY: GLOBAL MARKETS (MST040C) determines the current status of the electrophoresis industry and assesses its growth potential through 2018. Specific objectives of the report include developing an understanding of the current market scenario for both gel electrophoresis (GE) and capillary electrophoresis (CE) technologies. This report also assesses the growth and market potential for agarose and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis techniques. As nucleic acid and protein separation are the two major applications, their market potentials also have been examined. The market has been segmented into instrumentation, aftermarket supplies, and services; we were interested in monitoring trends in each of these segments. In addition, this report analyzes the electrophoresis industry from end-users’ perspectives.