Record Numbers of Scientists Have Their Say on the World’s Best Lab Equipment

In their tenth anniversary year, The Scientists’ Choice Awards saw more scientists and top technologies recognized than ever before

21 Nov 2018
Sarah Thomas
Associate Editor
The Life Sciences Scientists' Choice Awards winners
With nominations due to open on Monday, November 26, for next year’s Scientists’ Choice Awards, SelectScience® takes a look back at some of the many highlights from 2018, which saw more scientists than ever from across the globe get involved in this huge annual celebration of the lab equipment and manufacturers that make a biggest difference to the science industry. The Life Sciences Scientists' Choice Awards winners were celebrated during a special event during AACR 2018

It’s been quite a year for The Scientists’ Choice Awards — and that’s thanks to all of you.

A record number of scientists have taken the chance to share their opinions about the technologies and services that have most advanced their work.

Joining the conversation from right around the world, scientists made more nominations and cast more votes than ever before across the six award categories, more than doubling last year’s effort — testament to the growing global awareness of these influential awards, as well as increased understanding of the importance of scientists sharing their knowledge and opinion with peers.

A festival of technological and communications excellence

It’s been a fantastic 12-month festival of excellence in the company of some of the world’s top scientists and industry leaders, kicking off a year ago when nominations in the 2018 Drug Discovery and Development class opened and culminating in the glitzy new Digital Marketing Awards which took place during Neuroscience in San Diego this month.


This is truly recognition from our customers that this is making an impact in their laboratories.

Cynthia Cai  Senior marketing director at Agilent Technologies


In total, 35 of these coveted awards were presented at six major international science conferences, recognizing not just the most popular and effective new technologies, but also the most engaging, inspiring and innovative content and communications in the industry — and the scientists at the forefront of that movement, prepared to share their knowledge and expertise through interviews, webinars and on video.

Along the way, we also saw awards presented to the likes of Thermo Fisher Scientific, after its Thermo Scientific™ Q Exactive™ HF-X Hybrid Quadrupole-Orbitrap™ Mass Spectrometer was named Best New Drug Discovery Product 2017; MilliporeSigma who proudly walked away from Pittcon in Orlando with the award for Best New General Laboratory Product of 2017, for its Milli-Q® IQ 7000 Ultrapure Lab Water System; and double award winner Agilent Technologies, who picked up both Best New Separations Product for its 1260 Infinity II Prime LC system and Best New Spectroscopy Product for the Ultivo Triple Quadrupole LC/MS.

Explaining just how much these awards mean to her team, Cynthia Cai, senior marketing director at Agilent Technologies, said the company was “honoured and excited” by its double success, adding: “We have a commitment to innovation with purpose, and this is truly recognition from our customers that this is making an impact in their laboratories and we’re very happy with that."

Other big winners in the best new product categories were TwistDX’s TwistAMP® Liquid Kits (Life Sciences); Abbott’s Alinity ci-series (Clinical Instrument) and Bruker Daltonics’ MBT STAR®-Carba IVD Kit (Clinical Assay/Kit), while there were many more shortlisted.

Kerry Parker presents award to Renaud Bardon, of MilliporeSigma
Renaud Bardon, of MilliporeSigma, receives this year's award for Best New General Lab Product

The power of reviews

We also tap into the valuable opinions of thousands of scientist reviewers across the globe, through the Reviewers’ Choice Awards which see awards presented to the products, customer service and manufacturers rated the highest by SelectScience reviewers over the past year.

Trusted peer reviews help scientists quickly and easily choose the best lab products for their requirements and are some of the most well-read content on the SelectScience website. Every review on SelectScience has been fully moderated by our team.

Among the winners in 2018 were Siemens Healthineers (Reviewers' Choice Clinical Company of the Year); DeNovix Inc., who won the Reviewers’ Choice Award for Life Sciences Product of the Year for its DS-11 FX+ Spectrophotometer / Fluorometer; and Labcyte Inc.'s Echo® 500 Series Liquid Handlers, which were named Reviewers' Choice Drug Discovery & Development Product of the Year.

Positive reviews also help the most popular lab products on the market gain a coveted SelectScience® Seal of Quality.

Leave a review about your favorite lab product today >>

Kerry Parker presents award to Donna Woodall
Donna Woodall receives the Reviewers' Choice Clinical Company of the Year on behalf of Siemens Healthineers

Honoring scientific pioneers

With scientific communication becoming ever more important, we also recognized the most engaging and effective content of the past year – whether a webinar, an editorial article, a video or an email campaign — as well as the scientists involved.

So it was a chance to honor pioneering scientists like Dr. Frank Peacock, for his video about troponin and the science behind diagnosing a heart attack; Dr. Min Tang-Schomer for her insights into personalizing cancer therapy through the use of 3D bioengineered brains; Prof. Steve Hill and Dr. Laura Kilpatrick, who spoke on camera about a novel technique for the characterization of GPCR protein ligands;Dr. Raffaella Spina, who we interviewed about cancer recurrence in glioblastomas; Dr. Timo Bernthaler, who shared his characterization work on energy storage, magnetic and 3D printed materials; and Prof. Patrick Gunning, for his video about research into developing small molecule inhibitors for targeting and treating cancer.

Dr. Peacock was thrilled to receive his award, saying: “This is a topic I’ve been working on a for a decade, the ability to get it out and have it recognised as a valuable and important educational tool was outstanding.”

Kerry Parker presents award to Prof. Josephine Bunch
Prof. Josephine Bunch receives this year's award for Best Analytical Science Video

Get ready to nominate

As the dust settles on this year’s fantastic celebration of shared success, we are already looking to the future. On Monday, November 26, nominations will open for next year’s Scientists’ Choice Awards for the best new products of 2018 across all categories — and we very much hope you’ll get involved once more. Each valid nomination from a scientist gives them a chance to win a $500 Amazon Gift Card — look out for further details coming soon.

SelectScience Editor Lois Manton O’Byrne said: “It’s been wonderful to see these awards go from strength to strength, reflecting the increasing need and desire for meaningful conversation between scientists and manufacturers. We love nothing more than to recognize and celebrate the most successful results of that two-way conversation – namely technological innovation which makes a real difference to scientists in the lab.

“We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the scientists who have taken the time to nominate, vote for and review laboratory products and thus help their peers around the world make the best decisions to advance their vital work.”

Relive all the magic from the 2018 Scientists’ Choice Awards

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