Editorial Article: Win big with SelectScience by sharing your opinion on laboratory products!

Congratulations to the latest winners of a SelectScience periodic table T-shirt!

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Some of the latest winners of our 2021 reviews competition

• Andrew Cassar, University of Malta

"Reviews are important for us researchers to check and verify what other scientists have achieved with such equipment and so we can see which equipment suits our research to obtain good results."

• Tana Rice, Central Washington Hospital & Clinics

"Reading product reviews is an integral part of how our lab narrows down its selection of new products."

• Nagy Szabolcs, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences

"I think reviews on SelectScience are important as these provide very useful, unbiased opinions and experiences from end-users - the members of the scientific community."

• Namjoon Park, University of Seoul

"Reviews on SelectScience are important for an obvious reason: when we do science, we always need the shoulders of the giants to stand on. The shoulders could be the journal articles where we get the ideas from, but they also could be from the reviews of equipment or consumables to get the best results for the least cost."

• Erin Cloherty, City of New Orleans Mosquito, Termite & Rodent Control Board

"I believe reviews on SelectScience are important because they help me make decisions on what products to use and what is new on the market that may be worth trying in our lab."

• John Freund, NC State University

"SelectScience reviews are important because they give honest opinions of lab products from actual hands-on researchers."

• Uday Chintapula, The University of Texas at Arlington

"I believe SelectScience is a good platform to express your thoughts on a lab product and help the scientific community to find the right products for their research."

• Begoña Verdejo Viu, Institute of Molecular Science

"These lab product reviews help scientists to find the best equipment that makes their work easier."

• James Morris, NNIT

"I use SelectScience to learn more about lab equipment, so I can easily keep up to date on the latest items available."

• David Diec, Contamac

"Reviews are important for seeing how a piece of kit fairs in a real laboratory environment and they give the potential future owners a non-biased view on the equipment.”

• Marisa Hildebrandt, University of Michigan

"These reviews are real and specific. They are from actual researchers and detail the pros and cons of all types of equipment, from consumables to machines.  This is incredibly useful information."

• Elena Cassella, Hackensack Meridian Health Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI)

"Lab product reviews are one of the most effective tools that can help other people in their decisions. Positive reviews encourage others to at least try the product, and the more reviews the better. The absence of reviews is just as bad as having bad reviews, even if the product is actually good. I would not buy a product with poor or no reviews from my lab peers."

• Jayne Boyer, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

"I love the idea of a scientific consumer-based review system. Word of mouth is so important in the purchasing of equipment to get the best product for your hard-earned grant dollars. SelectScience is attempting to fill this need."

• Pooja Gupta, University of Wyoming

"There is a constant demand of having the best reagents and equipment in order to be successful. SelectScience reviews are unbiased, detailed, and very useful as they are shared by other scientists, lab professionals, and researchers."

• Athanasios Patsalias, University of Oxford

"By accessing SelectScience reviews, a researcher can feel confident before using new scientific equipment. Accessing information from scientists with hands-on experiences with the products in question is invaluable when it comes to scientific research and equipment purchases."

• Yujin Kwon, BYU Simmons Center for Cancer Research

"Sharing thoughts and honest reviews for the products we purchase and choosing the best options for research are both very important in terms of progress in science. SelectScience helps us a lot with that."

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Some of the winning scientists wearing their exclusive SelectScience Ge-Ni-U-S T-shirts

• Vikram Gujar, Northwestern University

"Before buying anything online, the first thing we look for is good and trustworthy reviews. SelectScience is the platform that provides genuine reviews and all the related information regarding scientific products. I believe buying products after reading the reviews on SelectScience helped me in determining the right thing and saved a whole lot of time in the long run."

• Brandon Johnson, Avera Institute for Human Genetics

"Reviews on SelectScience are a valuable asset to the scientific community. There is a large market for laboratory equipment and it is important for users to have an outlet for sharing their hands-on experience with these tools, to assist others in deciding what are the best products for their laboratory."

• Simona Ioniță, University Politehnica of Bucharest

"I think that reviews on SelectScience are truly helpful for everyone who wants to carry out thorough research before they purchase a suitable product. Moreover, when one reads a sincere review, they probably feel confident to also leave one on a product they worked with in their lab/workplace, and this is why SelectScience is a great platform for collaboration among scientists."

• Iris Escobar, University of Miami

"Reviews, in general, are extremely useful for anyone seeking to purchase a product, especially in science! The reviews on SelectScience allow researchers to evaluate the pros and potential cons of an item before making the commitment to purchase. There is also no bias, so individuals can trust that product reviews are both reliable and insightful."

• Zhen Huang, Tulane University

"Researchers often need to spend a lot of money to screen suitable reagents and kits, especially when starting a new project. If we can extensively communicate the feedback on reagents and toolkits within the community, this will greatly reduce the trouble of screening by evaluating similar applications and experiments. This is why I shared my own experience."

Congratulations to the winners of a $100 Amazon.com Gift Card

• Paula Hartman, Arcturus

"I think SelectScience reviews are important as it's always nice to have some hands-on user feedback prior to purchasing and spending time on something."

• Inmaculada Tamarit Navarro, AIMPLAS

"Reading SelectScience reviews is important because this way users can see other people's opinions about the equipment, and perhaps resolve any doubts they may have."

• Matthias Huber, Novartis

"The best opinion when it comes to purchasing a new instrument comes from another purchaser. It makes purchase decisions so much easier and it is really helpful in avoiding wasted money!"

• Weibin Zhou, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

"I think the reviews on research products on SelectScience are indeed very important to researchers like me because when I make purchases of research supplies and equipment, user reviews/feedback play a critical role in my purchase decision. A reliable review usually will save me a lot of effort in identifying a useful research product."

• Neha Mittal, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

"It is an excellent platform to make a reliable and confident decision about your lab purchases. Sometimes you need to make a fast and expensive decision for your lab instruments and reagents. Instead of testing everything, it is better to hear from your peers. This requirement is successfully completed by reading reviews on SelectScience. I am very happy to be a part of this unique platform."

• Haley Allard, University of Lethbridge

"Reviews on SelectScience are important because in specialized fields of study it can be challenging to connect with others who work with the same equipment. SelectScience reviews make it easy to verify that equipment will be a good purchase prior to committing to the item."

Kelly Harden, North Texas Municipal Water District, won a $400 Amazon gift card.

“When buying new instrumentation you need to make sure you are making the right investment.  SelectScience is one of my first stops when starting the purchase process.” 

Prof. Emiliano Aroasio, University of Turin, won a $400 Amazon gift card.

“Reviews on SelectScience matter because they are written by scientists, are directed to scientists and are true!"

Dr. Monika Raina, lead investigator at Syngene International, India, won a $400 Amazon gift card.

"It is really a great honor to be connected with SelectScience for various inputs from the different teams all over the globe."

Laurent Gigot, research & development for PolyOne, won a $400 Amazon gift card.

"I use SelectScience to find references and recommendations on equipment that can be useful for my daily job."

Dr. Inga Nagel, a cancer researcher from Germany, won a $400 Amazon gift card.

"I use SelectScience because I think it is a comfortable and nice way to receive information about (new) techniques. The ratings and reviews are especially useful for me."

Jenny Xiang, Research Professor at Weill Cornell Medical College, won a $400 Amazon gift card.

"Writing a good and balanced lab product review is not simply to promote a product you like; instead, it is to share your real experience and your vision with other customers, helping new customers to determine whether or not it is the right product for them."

Shawn McFadden, chemistry instructor and technical specialist at Ryerson University, won a $400 Amazon gift card.

"I appreciate using reviews first hand, so I thought leaving a review would potentially be helpful for others. There are many competing providers out there with various instruments, and of course, the salesperson is going to tell you that theirs is the best. Input from a third party is therefore very valuable to highlight the benefits or shortcomings of a product."

Grace Mak, Senior Scientific Officer, Institute of Cancer Research, London:

"As a scientist, it is really important to share our views on the products we use so as to help each other in the field. SelectScience provides us with this platform!"

Evan Moore, Battelle Memorial Institute, won a $400 Amazon gift card:

"I use SelectScience because they can consolidate and present to me information relevant to my field that I might not have found on my own."

Dr Tomasz Goździewicz, Analytics and Mass Spectrometry Expert at Polpharma Biologics, won a $400 Amazon gift card:

"SelectScience gives me the unique opportunity to find opinions about scientific equipment from people who work in the lab and really know the pros and cons of their instruments."

Dr. Thomas Pisanic, Johns Hopkins University, won a $400 Amazon gift card:

"SelectScience fulfills a longstanding need in the scientific community: a well-organized, centralized resource of thorough, unbiased reviews of a wide range of scientific instrumentation and products. The ability to factor in opinions and direct experiences of end-users saves money, time and a lot of potential headaches."

Dr. Greg D. Smith, Sr. Conservation Scientist at Indianapolis Museum of Art, won a $400 Amazon gift card:

"Our museum laboratory operates on a tight budget, so we need to know that any new purchase is a sound investment.  SelectScience offers unvarnished opinions from those using the equipment in the field, giving us confidence before we buy.”

Dr. Tom Edlind, MicrobiType LLC, won a $400 Amazon gift card:

"Where to begin when deciding on lab equipment, consumables, reagents, or services? I would start with SelectScience reviews, since only then can you be confident that you are hearing from actual scientists like yourself, rather than the standard company sales pitch."

Melanie Thom, Baere Aerospace Consulting, won a $400 Amazon gift card:

"One of the challenges for a smaller company like Baere is finding quality equipment in small purchase sizes at a reasonable price.  And even if I do find a place that can get any of those services, how do I know the item at which I am looking is really what it is purported to be?  That is why having access to honest reviews from people who actually have used the product is so important to me.  As was said in a Tennessee Williams play, 'I've always depended on the kindness of strangers.'  I’ll modify that just a bit: 'I depend on the honest reviews of strangers!'

Gilles Muller, San Jose State University, won a $400 Amazon gift card:

"SelectScience is the place to get useful and honest feedback on equipment, accessories, or services available from trusted peers to make a purchase decision with confidence."