New SelectScience Seals of Quality Get Science Industry Talking

Program is 'invaluable' for scientists needing to make informed purchasing decisions for their lab

24 Aug 2017

Bede MacGowan

Online editor

A new SelectScience^® program aimed at helping scientists make important purchasing decisions for their laboratories is making waves across the global science industry. A month ago, we launched the Seals of Quality, which recognize the top 0.1% of products that have consistently received the best customer reviews, and revealed the first 28 products to receive a Seal.

Since then, the response has been remarkable:

What is a Seal of Quality? The Seal of Quality program recognizes products that have consistently received the highest review ratings and aims to assist scientists in making purchasing decisions. Seals are allocated in line with strict criteria based on the quantity of reviews a product has received and their average rating. There are four levels: Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze.

Golden touch

Phenomenex, a global leader in analytical chemistry, pulled out all the stops when it decorated its offices in California in gold after scooping a Seal of Quality for its Kinetex Core-Shell HPLC/UHPLC Columns. In an article celebrating the achievement, President of Phenomenex, Shane Lyons, said: “This Gold Seal of Quality reflects our focus on customer satisfaction and the fast pace at which we are able to bring innovative technologies to market.”

The team also produced an eye-caching animation for social media, which can be viewed here.

Peer validation

Sequencing services provider GATC Biotech was delighted to become the very first recipient of a SelectScience Platinum Seal of Quality, scooping not one, but two of the accolades: for its LIGHTRUN and SUPREMERUN.

GATC’s Head of Marketing & Communications, Detlef Janssen, said: “We are incredibly excited to receive this honor not just from SelectScience, but also from the reviewers who take the time to go on the website and leave their feedback. The Seal is especially important to us, as it serves as peer validation of the quality of our Sanger sequencing services.”

Dr Claudia Pantke, GATC Biotech, shows off the company's two Platinum Seal of Quality certificates. Image credit: GATC Biotech

Customer opinion

Others celebrating in style on social media included Bertin Instruments, Beckman Coulter and BioStatus, which, respectively, picked up Seals for the Precellys^® Evolution, a high-throughput tissue homogenizer; the Biomek FXp Laboratory Workstation; and DRAQ5, a cell-permeant DNA probe.

Roy Edward, Sales and Marketing Director at Biostatus, said: “DRAQ5’s Gold Seal of Quality directly reflects customer opinion of this product’s contribution to cytometry and microscopy and of BioStatus’s uncompromising commitment to product quality, customer service and technical support.”

Invaluable for scientists

DeNovix Inc. was another to receive a Gold Seal of Quality, for its DS-11 FX+ Spectrophotometer / Fluorometer. DeNovix Business Director Kevin Kelley said: “It is a real honor to receive this award that reflects the experience of thousands of scientists around the world who use our products."

For scientists wishing to make informed buying decisions, the feedback of their global peers is "invaluable", added Mr Kelley.

This award reflects the experience of thousands of scientists around the world.

Kevin Kelley

DeNovix

Thank you for feedback

The team at Wyatt Technology Corp. was delighted to see the DAWN HELEOS II Multi-Angle Light Scattering Detector pick up a Silver Seal of Quality, just a few months after it received the SelectScience Reviewers’ Choice Instrument of the Year Award at Pittcon 2017.

In a blog celebrating the Seal, the team thanked their customers for taking the trouble to submit reviews after Wyatt took the plunge and joined the SelectScience product review program. They wrote: “We are very grateful to all of our customers who submitted reviews: to those who submitted positive reviews, and to those whose reviews were less than positive, giving us important feedback on what needs to be improved. We look forward to more feedback.”

Best decisions

The next tranche of Seal of Quality recipients will be announced in September.

“We have been absolutely delighted by the response to the new Seals of Quality from an industry which clearly sees the great value of customer feedback and trusted peer validation,” said SelectScience Editor-in-Chief, Kerry Parker. “We look forward to being able to reveal the new recipients as this program goes from strength to strength, helping to accelerate vital research by enabling scientists to make the best decisions for their lab quickly and with confidence.”