(Philadelphia, PA - December 2002)

There are numerous awards and prizes for scientific achievement, and rightly so. Today's researchers are heavily dependent on sophisticated laboratory equipment, on specialist software, and on electronic access to databases. Yet recognition of excellence in the provision of these services has been surprisingly lacking.

That omission is corrected today with The Scientist Readers' Choice Awards. Over a span of six weeks, researchers were invited to visit The Scientist's website and to vote for their favorite lab equipment, software package, kit provider, web site, technical support, design, and gadget. The result, an inventory of outstanding products and services from sagacious companies and organizations, can be found in the December 9, 2002, issue of The Scientist. Presentation of the awards will take place at the American Society for Cell Biology meeting in San Francisco in mid-December. Congratulations to the winners!

Voting by The Scientist readers provides credibility for the awards that can only come from within the scientific community itself. For example, since the votes came from product users, practical features such as reliability, ease of use, adaptability, speed of response and cost-effectiveness would have played an important role alongside the less tangible qualities of innovation. Thus the awards are for useable, tested technologies.

The awards are as follows:

1. Best Instrument Under $25,000 (US)

Winner: MJ Research Peltier Thermal Cycler DNA Engine

2. Best Instrument, $25,000 - $100,000

Winner: ABI PRISM 7000 Sequence Detection System

3. Best Instrument Over $100,000

Winner: Zeiss Confocal Laser-Scanning Microscope LSM 510 META

4. Most Useful Scientific Software Package

Winner: GraphPad Prism

5. Most Useful Kits Provider

Winner: QIAGEN Nucleic Acid Purification Kits

6. Most Informative or Best Designed Web Site

Winner: National Center for Biotechnology Information

7. Most Helpful or Responsive Technical Support

Winner: Invitrogen

8. Coolest Design

Winner: (tie) Eppendorf Microcentrifuges & Apple iMac

9. Best Gadget

Winner: Gilson Pipetman

To access the full text article on The Readers' Choice Awards including details for all winning companies and products, click here.

For a copy of the issue, call or e-mail Amanda Addis, Marketing Director at 215-385-9601 ext. 3027 or aaddis@the-scientist.com.