Restriction Enzymes - Opinions & Insights
Each member of The Science Advisory Board who participated in this study was invited to comment on the following question:
"If you were to create an "enzyme of the month" club for your favorite supplier, what would be its key benefits and why would scientists think membership in such a club was a good idea? (For example, the club might offer discounted pricing for monthly orders such as 3000 U of Hind III for the price of 2000 U.)"
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The responses, which have been edited for grammar and clarity, appear below along with each respondent's first name, job position, and geographic region.
(1) member discount
(2) member tech service hotline
(3) free trial RE for testing available all time
(4) RE product comparison info for member only
(5) "Ask the expert/user" : members can help each other.
Robert, Professor/Teacher, North America
1. Lesser pricing for members.
2. Free shipping for some minimum amount order.
Livy, Staff Scientist, Asia
2 for 1 enzyme deals. Order at least 2000 U of one type of enzyme and get the same amount of another enzyme (of equal or lesser value) free. It would be a great way for scientists to save money and possibly try new enzymes.
Michael, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, North America
A action like this would direct the attention to this enzyme and to the appropriate company. The scientists could take advantage of the discount prices.
Wolfgang, Principal Investigator, Europe
A frequent buyer card/program would definitely motivate me to stick with one supplier as apposed to simply buying from the cheapest supplier or the one that happens to have the enzyme I need on site. For instance buy ten, get one free or buy ten and receive free molecular markers.
Chad, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, North America
A good idea in order to reduce price and exchange ideas about other financial strategies to keep the reduction and also negotiate better with suppliers and distributors.
Rogerio, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, Central/South America
Allow combinations of 2 enzymes at discounts or alternatively, an accessory freebie (cool rack)every other month would be a good idea for bundled benefits.
Ri-Chee, Staff Scientist, North America
Annual discount if enzyme usage consistently surpass certain amount.
Zen, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe
Any particular information about a star activity of a specific enzyme regarding time of incubation.
Athina, Staff Scientist, Europe
Anything that is useful to "save money" is a good idea.
Annamaria, Staff Scientist, Europe
As regards this idea: my use of restriction enzymes is not driven by such offers. I buy when I need to and our monthly orders are not so huge!
Iain, Principal Investigator, Europe
As with anyone who manages money for a big lab, cost saving is always an issue. A club as described above would only be of benefit to the lab if you could save money. It is unlikely it would become fashionable to be a member of a club, so the bottom line is would it save the lab money and provide greater reliability and supply. Simple as that!
Scott, Staff Scientist, Europe
As with the experience they have with their work, they give the perfect suggestions and troubleshoot with the enzyme.
Umesh, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, Asia
Being part of the "club", members could receive special prices offers and advantage in keeping specific lot of enzymes to be ordered.
Amicosante, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, Europe
Benefit would be specific very close by freezer program with lower prices and always available stock.
David, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America
Benefit: 10 enzymes 10% discount; 20 enzymes 20% discount; 30/30%, etc up to 50%. this + free shipping. obvious cost savings for both the club member (discount) and the supplier (less shipping cost with bulk order than a lot of smaller orders).
Jennifer, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, North America
Benefits would include offering common, regularly used enzymes at discounts or bulk quantities, say EcoRI one month, HindIII another month, etc. Offer enzymes one could stock up on, but that would still be used before their expirations.
Joyce, Staff Scientist, North America
Besides obtain special prices on a regular basis and occasional promotional prices, you may be sure that you will receive your enzyme in two working days, at most.
Rafael, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe
Better characterization of Restriction enzyme is necessary.
Mingang, Staff Scientist, North America
Better pricing and sizing/concentrations that are not normally available could be made available through this sort of club.
N.S., Graduate Student/Research Assistant, Europe
Bulk pricing discount and quick service.
Jon, Principal Investigator, North America
Buy two and get one free.
Shiaw-Min, Principal Investigator, Asia
Club members would have benefit of ordering the new product at a discounted promotional pricing before general public access.
Haeri, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America
Club would have an assistant to order enzymes when stock was low as well as discounts for multiple enzymes (either multiple vials of a single enzyme or multiple enzymes).
Travis, Principal Investigator, North America
Competition is strong in today's market place and also scientists are looking to save money in all areas. The combination of these factors will contribute to the success of an "enzyme of the month" club.
Patricia, Principal Investigator, North America
Cost saving, identical lot availability, ease of troubleshooting, exchange of leftovers.
Deepak, Staff Scientist, Asia
Cost savings on high volume items, allowing limited research budgets to go further.
Ann, Principal Investigator, North America
Discount free samples for new enzymes documents about the enzymes.
Zhu, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, Asia
Discount pricing on future purchases with coupons.
Gregory, Principal Investigator, North America
Discount pricing. Monthly specials, beyond the enzyme of the month Get to know or hear from Sigma reps (I never do) Discounts or favorable pricing on other molecular biology products.
Robert, Professor/Teacher, North America
Discount, easier support.
Stefan, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, Europe
Discount, free shipping.
Yi-Hong, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America
Discounted pricing for all orders.
Kamen, Professor/Teacher, Europe
Discounted pricing that gets better each year the customer stays loyal to the supplier.
Ruman, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, Europe
Discounted pricing would be a quite attractive reason, but also as a means to provide interesting information about new technical aspects.
A., Professor/Teacher, Europe
Discounted pricing would be an excellent option, but it might be more beneficial to members if the offers were broader (i.e. buy four tubes of any enzymes - mix and match - and get one free). That way, you could take part in the special more often than if the supplier offered a discount on just one item. Also, I think most researchers like personal rewards...buy 100 tubes (cumulative over some length of time) and get a free coffee mug, etc).
Megan, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America
Discounted pricing.
Milton, Staff Scientist, North America
Discounts are always more than welcome.
Antti, Staff Scientist, Europe
Discussions between the users will benefit them to understand the tricks of using different brads of enzymes equally well in their protocols.
Abhay, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, Asia
DNase free concentrated restriction enzyme.
Noureddine, Principal Investigator, Europe
Do not make things too complicated.
Alexander, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America
Each restriction enzyme has it's own history, use and .... personality. Molecular biologists tend to think of these proteins as all the same. They are NOT. They are individuals with their own unique stories. I like to know as much about an enzyme as I can so I make full use of it's capabilities, understand it's limitations and use it in unique ways if I need to. I use catalogs as much for reference material as for ordering.
Jim, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America
Ease of availability Fast and efficient Delivery Greater compatibility of buffers.
Neeti, Staff Scientist, Asia
Enzyme giving maximum benefit at minimum cost from a consistent supplier.
Bhupesh, Department Head, Asia
Enzyme with expiration date and discounted price for institutional buyers.
Raj, Staff Scientist, North America
Enzymes from B. Genei are working well for our lab conditions and also the results are reproducible. Its better to stick with a supplier.
Ramamirthum, Staff Scientist, Asia
For bench scientists to talk about their work with certain RE cultivates a network environment that would benefit science and saves everyone time.
Betty, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America
For better pricing and better understanding of the product.
Sheela, Staff Scientist, North America
For cloning, we will soon have switched completely to recombinase-based methods for which restriction enzymes and ligase is not needed.
Helmut, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, Europe
For me it does not apply, since I use various enzymes and I would rather like to have more enzymes in small amounts cheaper (for example three enzymes in price for two) than one enzyme which would expire before I consume it.
Marta, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, Europe
For the more rare and expensive enzymes that you only use a little bit of and use it relatively rarely, you could share the vial and thus lower the price of it!
Mark, Staff Scientist, North America
Free samples for those demonstrating successful results.
Maria, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe
Free samples of less commonly used enzymes. Free samples of new enzymes.
Frank, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, North America
Free trial samples to new customers or existing customers wanting to try new enzymes. Alternatively, select a winning lab to have a representative come down to the institution to demonstrate the application of the enzyme.
Christopher, Principal Investigator, North America
Frequent use of restriction enzymes puts a pressure on the budget. Also, reliable restriction enzymes are a must since improperly working restriction enzymes will cost time, money and nerves in the lab. Therefore, since frequently used restriction enzymes (BamHI, HindIII, EcoRI etc) are always in demand and saving money on those frequently ordered restriction enzymes will relieve labs from budget pressure.
Klaas, Principal Investigator, Europe
Get tips on best enzymes/buffers for double+ digestions.
Nadia, Professor/Teacher, Europe
Give the members discounted certain free samples to try and then supply discounted pricing. In addition, if the member could continue purchase from the club, provide free shipping.
Xiao-Lu, Staff Scientist, North America
Good for heavy users to save money.
Yongjian, Staff Scientist, North America
Have experienced problems with other suppliers enzymes. Find New England Biolabs enzymes reliable and very competitively priced.
Hazel, Laboratory Technician, Europe
Highlight specific uses / protocols for this enzyme - special offers on this enzyme (packaging size, price).
Gerd, Professor/Teacher, Europe
I believe it does not make much sense to create such club, in general the restriction enzymes are not so expensive (for just few exceptions). Overall your saving won't be so big, unless you are using some huge quantities.
Bogdan, Professor/Teacher, North America
I believe such a club has no merit, usually researchers will work out which enzymes they could use for their application and they will find the supplier that can deliver that enzyme. People will look first at what is available with their preferred supplier anyway and if they can't help will look around for other suppliers.
Alan, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, Europe
I can't imagine I would ever consider this. Our enzyme needs change and we prefer our onsite supply so as to use only the enzymes we need from fresh stock. Buying an enzyme you don't need is just asking for it to get "old" fast.
Joanne, Principal Investigator, North America
I can't think of why that would be a good idea. Almost all of the enzymes I need are readily available. When that is not the case I buy enzymes when I need them, and specific for each task. The experiments are rarely the same. The only individuals that would benefit would be core groups (e.g. genotyping, mapping) that do not vary their experiments and use the same reagents over and over. I would target those groups with such a program.
Andy, Staff Scientist, North America
I dint think it would make any difference to purchasing, just a gimmick.
Charlotte, Principal Investigator, Europe
I do not see an advantage in creating such a club.
Elisabeth, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, Europe
I don't like all these "special offers" "super savings" and "3for2-offers" at all. If I could decide, I would reduce the expenses for all these kinds of advertisements and keep the products prices constant, so that you can always rely on it.
Stephan, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe
I don't think a particular enzyme in any particular month would be of any value unless I could pick the enzyme.
Jennifer, Principal Investigator, North America
I don't think an enzyme of the month club is a good idea because many labs wouldn't need to order the single enzyme placed on special during a given time. I wouldn't even seek it out as it would be a waste of my time to look and then find out the enzymes I needed weren't on special. A better idea might be to simply have a frequent buyer program with rewards (like an extra 1000 units for each 15,000 spent, etc).
Kim, Principal Investigator, North America
I don't think it is useful.
Kuan-Teh, Principal Investigator, North America
I don't think that it is a good idea. Typically, the scientist uses the enzyme that cleaves the site of interest, and not the cheapest one. For example, as I routinely use only four enzymes, I would not like to participate in such club, because the most of months "enzyme of the month" will be one that I do not use.
Anna, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, Central/South America
I don't think that would be very useful. We usually only order what we need for a given project.
Michael, Principal Investigator, North America
I don't think there would be much benefit to this. It seems silly to me. We order the restriction enzymes that we need based on the particular sequences we're cloning, not because a particular enzyme is the featured enzyme of the month!
Sandra, Staff Scientist, North America
I don't think this would have all that much impact.
M., Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America
I had no interest to join such a club unless I'd get every month a different enzyme of my choice for free, a small amount would be ok, of course. My needs are varying from application to application so I like to rely on a variety on enzymes in my fridge rather than having a constant supply of a particular enzyme or just another vial of HindIII in my fridge.
Wolfgang, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, Europe
I hate such things so I would not do it. give me a good price consistently.
Jeanne, Principal Investigator, North America
I have worked in both academic research and biotech industry. Pricing and discount offered for restriction enzymes may mean more for academics.
Feng, Laboratory Technician, North America
I just don't think that this club is a good idea. RE's go bad, and you only need them when you need them. When you need them, you need them NOW and not the next time they are on sale. It might be helpful if very common or popular enzymes were offered at a discount every 6 mos. or a year (or however often a big lab would order common enzymes). I think the discount would have to be at least 50% to get participation. I also think there should be some freebee offered as part of the club. This freebee would obviously be good advertising as well. This club would only work for companies w/ good enzymes. No one is going to buy an enzyme from a company they've had problems with.
Katherine, Principal Investigator, North America
I look for quality product even it is priced slightly higher and consistency of the product and supply. If the requirements are met I will be happy whether it is the `Club' or X, Y, or Z suppliers!
Krishnamurthi, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, Asia
I only use an enzyme that I need at the time. I don't like stocking them.
Teresa, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America
I spend very little time thinking about restriction enzymes. I just use them regularly; I don't buy them in bulk don't seem to have too many problems with them and definitely don't do comparison/price shopping.
Raghu, Staff Scientist, North America
I think a key benefit would be the possibility to get free samples of enzymes as along to the ones one uses all the time, researchers often need a few units of an enzyme to make a new cut! Cheers.
Deborah, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe
I think it should be that every month you have some random enzyme and everyone who orders anything that month gets a small tube of it for free. The result of this is that people will sometimes try the new enzyme in an experiment, and then they will keep buying it forever thereafter. In other cases, people may throw it out, or let it expire, but overall you will get new customers and new orders.
Andrew, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America
I think it will be a very good idea since it will create the avenue for scientists to share ideas on the best ways to use these enzymes.
Abubakar, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, Europe
I think it would be a good idea. restriction enzymes last for a relative long time. so it would be great to stock up on them, especially those commonly used.
Zheng, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America
I think it would be beneficial if a significant discount is given by the supplier. In terms of the general comments for restriction enzymes, it will be very attractive if the supplier can work out a simpler and more effective buffer system for double digestion applications.
Lei, Staff Scientist, North America
I think most promotions such as these are gimmicks and don't make much of a difference. Often times the person who keeps track of the funds in the lab is not the person doing the ordering anyway. The example you give is not going to save much money and therefore not likely to be all that popular. I think New England Biolabs did it right when they began offering free shipping for online orders over $
100. These kinds of savings can really add up.
Ezra, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America
I think that the discounts should offer either free enzyme based on volumes, or possibly discounts on future orders. It would also be great to receive discounts for larger volumes. Scientists would think this was a good idea, because it is offering deals/discounts for "loyal" customers.
Megan, Staff Scientist, North America
I think the best program would be a "Buy X number of REs, and get one free". This would allow for the great flexibility needed in most labs where I have worked.
Patrick, Staff Scientist, North America
I think the best reason to be a member is to exchange information in order to prevent that people invent wheels all the time. Joint methodology projects may also be a possibility. I doubt if the economic reasons will work in the end.
Maarten, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, Europe
I would like to see benefits such as "free freezing rack" or other accessories with an order of 2000 U of Enzyme xyz.
Michel, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, Europe
I would rather be in favor of fidelity points to get new enzymes at discounted rates or for free. Personally, I am not using a specific enzyme routinely enough to consider monthly orders, but we order quite a lot of different enzymes for everyday cloning (where enzymes changes according to cloning strategy). Thus, a kind of fidelity program would be interesting to such labs.
Christophe, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America
I would rather have the opportunity to use as much reactions as I can with the same amount of money. For this discount for large amount of enzyme would be beneficial.
Atzmon, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America
I would suggest to have a choice of FREE enzyme (in smallest quantity) from the list provided by vendors, if the buyer's monthly order exceeds certain amount.
Sergei, Staff Scientist, North America
I wouldn't personally participate in the "club" for a couple of reasons. First, our lab does not utilize that much restriction enzyme. Second, it sounds too "gimmicky". Would the benefits outweigh the time involved in participation?
David, Principal Investigator, North America
I'd join, because May would be "EcoRI" month, and I'd get 2-for-1 pricing on Eco. August would be BamHI or HindIII, and each December would feature a less-well-known enzyme, like PacI or something. And, hey, maybe March would be "blunt cutter month" and April "isoschizomer month" or something like that. Now you see why I'm not in marketing.
Lori, Professor/Teacher, North America
If the club enabled discussion of use and also provided discounts it would be attractive.
Auriol, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe
If this club is extended to more than restriction enzymes, it would be interesting.
Carsten, Professor/Teacher, Europe
If we could get the reliability of Invitrogen enzymes for a more discounted price, life would be golden!
Cheryl, Principal Investigator, North America
I'm not sure if it would change what people use.
Jonathan, Laboratory Technician, North America
Important features would be a good discount and that the enzymes of the month would be commonly used enzymes not a rare enzyme. Also having some kind of frequent buyer program tied in with the enzyme of the month where you could get a gift or free enzymes would be nice.
DeLaine, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America
In creating an "enzyme of the month" club, it would be useful to offer discounted pricing a specific enzyme/month. In addition, I would like to see offered more novel, not available in catalogues, products, for example, new formulation (beads vs glycerol stock vs mixing with specific other enzymes vs other), new combinations, new technology or even new enzymes. This would include the option for feedback to find what scientists would find valuable and what/how to improve on existing products. This would also include a forum to which scientists could contribute and view to offer trouble-shooting opportunities, observations, specific lot problems, other information sharing.
Danise, Staff Scientist, North America
In my cloning work, I am limited to enzyme selection by sequence requirements. When given a choice between two or three enzymes that would fit my needs, I chose the one with the best buffer compatibility ...especially for double digestion, or one that can be heat inactivated, to save time in downstream steps. I am not sure how an "enzyme of the month" club would alter my selections.
Leigh, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, North America
Information exchange.
Satish, Professor/Teacher, Europe
Interchange of troubleshooting ideas for reactions that don't work optimally.
Alexander, Principal Investigator, North America
Introduce new enzymes frequently.
Eric, Principal Investigator, North America
Invitrogen - free products, free trips.
Natalie, Laboratory Technician, North America
It is essential not to waste to much time. so one short email would be enough to describe the key benefits of this enzyme. discount price on the enzyme of the month does not really help, it would be better to get a regular discount on top 20 enzymes.
Michael, Principal Investigator, Europe
It might be more attractive to offer a small gift to the club members than a discounted enzymes. Since daily management of restriction enzyme collections are the responsibility of lab technicians, who may or may not be impressed by the discount of enzymes.
Weiying, Staff Scientist, North America
It will be a new rare enzyme available on site that was only distributed by competition brand before.
Franck, Principal Investigator, North America
It wouldn't make any difference. Most enzymes are standing orders anyway.
Martijn, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe
I've never thought about such a club. I can imagine other useful things apart of the discounted pricing (interesting anyway). For example, a club could be a sort of "reference point" for the company, to discuss troubles' solutions, to have researchers' insights on how to improve quality of products and services.
Pasquale, Principal Investigator, Europe
Key benefits : pricing and comparison of enzyme quality.
Isabelle, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe
Key benefits
1. Lower pricing for loyal customers
2. Quicker deliveries of orders
3. Offers (get three enzymes for the price of two)
4. Points to post-docs and students, to be redeemed towards a biology book or a conference fee
5. Offer of strong motives when a lab makes the "annual order", for example all lab members discuss their annual needs and one very large order is placed.
Kalliopi, Tenure-track investigator, Europe
Key benefits would be learning of other members independent experience with specific enzymes. Discounts are always good!
Hilton, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, Europe
Key Benefits would be:
1. Volume price discounts (leverage with the supplier).
2. New ideas and tips from people in the club/consortium.
3. Joint troubleshooting--we can be part of a Yahoo! e-mail group and communicate frequently.
4. Because of the volume of ordering, we could request specific lots from the supplier/vendor, purchase of a specific lot, free shipping of the products to the various members of the club.
Enal, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America
Key benefits would include: - extreme price reduction (50%) - buy one get one free - buy 200$ worth, and get a free ipod - buy 200$ worth, and get a free subscription to journal x (i.e. science) for one year - create a point system, similar to the Science Advisory Board.
Jamie, Principal Investigator, North America
Key Benefits:
1. sharing new idea
2. keep updating information: new brand, new product, new technique, etc.
3. good approach for networking
4. discounted pricing The benefits about are the answer of why that was a good idea as well.
Jun, Staff Scientist, Australasia/Pacific
Labs are currently using always the same restrictions enzymes. So it would be a financial benefit to get discounted price for these current enzymes. Il would be a way for supplier to get loyal customers.
Jacques, Production/Manufacturing, Europe
Labs generally maintain large libraries of restriction enzymes, with large stocks of the most common ones. Hence, an "enzyme of the month" club would provide very little benefit to those labs that merely replace enzymes when one runs out. If I were to create an "enzyme club," I think it would make more sense to have a period of time where all of the supplier's restriction enzymes went on sale, with special pricing for those who purchase multiple enzymes. This would encourage end-users to "stock up" on supplies during these "special" months. Another suggestion for encouraging brand loyalty would be a rewards program. As labs purchase restriction enzymes from the same company, points can be accumulated that are redeemable for special discounts or other rewards.
William, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, North America
Lower price.
Anil, Staff Scientist, North America
Loyalty -would keep using that supplier.
Paul, Principal Investigator, Europe
Major key benefit would be like customer reward card were if you buy 10 you get one free. This way it rewards loyal researchers who continue to purchase the enzymes. As well it means you don't have to try and pay attention to the promotion of the month.
Stephen, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, North America
Maybe an exchange of ideas between users (about problems or protocols) would be a good idea.
Dirk, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe
MboII (6000U).
Ali, Professor/Teacher, Europe
Membership in such a club would only be attractive if there were regular discounts on high-volume enzymes. In that case, why not just offer a "special of the month". I really don't think a subscription to a "club" would be popular due to the varied need.
Katherine, Staff Scientist, North America
Might have good tips on using certain enzymes. Good also provide historical perspectives on some of the enzymes. Lastly, deep discounts on a particular enzyme is always appreciated.
Mark, Principal Investigator, North America
Most folks would ignore the club I am afraid. However if it was an e-club, with a monthly e-newsletter and a coupon that might get some attention.
V, Professor/Teacher, North America
Most of the common enzymes are supplied by different companies and they are all fairly equal. The difference is the on-site availability and price. Clubs would have to be on-site with a deep discount for that enzymes of the month.
Edward, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America
NEB's detailed catalog of REs and their properties is by far one of the best references from a supplier.
Nellie, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, North America
New products information, etc.
Yu, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, Asia
Offer a variety of different protocols for usage of the enzymes; online support; collection of "points" depending on the amount of enzyme, with the possibility to change these points to valuable items; test samples of each enzyme;
Gertraud, Laboratory Technician, Europe
Offer discount purchasing programs based on customer loyalty - this would be particularly useful for large labs that use restriction enzymes in bulk experiments.
Megan, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, North America
Offer monthly discounted prices as well as some sort of point award programs where the points can be redeemed for gifts. This way both the lab as a whole and the end user benefits from being loyal to the club.
David, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America
One free enzyme for every 9 ordered, sample packages of different restriction enzymes, or very small vials of enzymes to a reasonable price.
Oistein, Principal Investigator, Europe
One of the key benefits could be a freebie new or different enzyme to try with the purchase of another.
Ana, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America
One potential benefit might be quicker recognition of new enzymes and cheaper isoschizomers for existing enzymes. That would be a greater benefit than a modest discount on an enzyme that we really don't need. Restriction enzymes are usually only bought at my company when needed.
Robert, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, North America
Overnight delivery of all orders.
Tertia, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, Africa
Packs of a very used enzyme as HindIII plus a non-often used and very expensive one (with less units than usually) with special price. Sometimes in the lab we need very few units of a very expensive enzyme. Will be great to be able of buying it at low cost.
Belen, Professor/Teacher, Europe
Peer reviews on enzymes are always useful to cut through the marketing bluff from companies.
Pamela, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, Europe
Price discounts would be nice, free shipping, free gifts.
Laura, Principal Investigator, North America
Profiles on the various enzymes, with troubleshooting tips, advice on what differentiates the same enzyme from different suppliers.
P, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America
Rapid delivery.
Neil, Principal Investigator, Europe
Reduced price for large ordering.
Jill, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America
Research is driven by needs and not discounts/promotions. If I need HInd III I won't wait for it to go on sale. I can't believe anyone would think this is a good idea. Fire the morons in marketing and pass on the savings.
Hal, Staff Scientist, North America
Restriction endonucleases are an important research tool more than an hobby. I wouldn't be really interested to join such a club unless real benefits are prospected. Interesting benefit for the membership could be a general consisting discount or occasional offers on price list and information about REALLY new product (i.e., enzymes with new recognition sequences or different methylation sensitivities or different performances).
Franco, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, Europe
Restriction Enzymes are valuable and irreplaceable tools in my work. But by and large - I do not see any benefits in a club. These enzymes are dead cheap already and play no role in our budget. I do not want to spend the time hunting for offers or anything like it.
Heike, Staff Scientist, Europe
Restriction enzymes changed the way we thought biotech work will progress and it made PCR a reality. I would like to state that "Restriction enzymes are the lifeline of biotechnology research. Companies offering the good quality RE products shall be admired for their silent contribution to great innovations in Biotechnology "
Ashesh, Principal Investigator, Asia
Restriction enzymes have become a routine part of any molecular biology lab. So much so that most people do not pay attention to the properties of the enzymes they are using such as star activity, salt concentration, cutting at ends of DNA etc. "Enzyme of the month" could be useful in making users aware of the properties of the enzymes at the same time being a marketing tool for introducing both new and old enzymes.
Malathi, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America
Restriction enzymes have no real cost factor, thus such a club would be interesting only if we buy lot's of other stuff from it (e.g., Promega).
Marco, Principal Investigator, Europe
Rewards program.
Andrew, Principal Investigator, Australasia/Pacific
Save money on some routinely used enzyme.
Baby, Principal Investigator, North America
Save money! Save time! Use compatible enzymes!
Ana, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe
Setting a parade list based on the enzyme performance from various brands.
Emanuele, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe
Since my enzyme needs are usually not along ordinary lines, I would vote for a credit of dollars or a discount on my choice of enzyme. We would appreciate that much more than an enzyme of the month for which we quite possibly would never have a use for, or for which we already have a huge unused stock. I think many scientists might agree with me, and that an enzyme of the month wouldn't benefit very many people. When you need an enzyme, you need it, and not some other.
Shawn, Professor/Teacher, North America
Some double/triple digestions are very tricky, if there is one enzyme good for that which will be very good.
Li, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America
Special enzymes integrated to the specific protocols (e.g. SAGE) could be purchased in the amounts logical to the protocol size. By doing this, the long protocol, taking months to go through, would be easier to perform.
Heikki, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, Europe
Special pricing on other products from the same supplier if a minimum amount of the enzyme of the month was purchased or accumulation of 'points' that could be used toward purchase other products.
James, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America
Special prizing would have to be a must for such an enzyme of the month club to make any practical sense.
Harald, Professor/Teacher, North America
Stratagene enzyme are good and I never had any problem with them.
Maria, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe
Such a club would provide a forum for a users group to share comments and experiences regarding enzyme usage.
Anthony, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America
Such club would provide information about new or novel enzymes and if it was run from a company which is new or not well known in the field it would a way for the company to supply free samples which may lead researchers to switch enzymes suppliers.
Clyde, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe
Suggest a "points" club where you get a certain number of points for each purchase (based on enzyme price and size) and one can then redeem these points towards the purchase of more restriction enzyme (or of something else from the company).
Michael, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, North America
Tailor knows the importance of scissors for stitching the cloths. Similarly the molecular biologist should not comment on restriction enzymes.
Mahendran, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America
That is an interesting idea. I believe the "cost" of membership (monthly fee) would have to be small, but if members were to be able to get perks such as free shipping, test enzymes (new isoschizermers), and reduced pricing for the "enzyme of the month" and/or cute clip art or t-shirts etc, then it would probably be worth it.
Deborah, Principal Investigator, North America
That is, for regular orders of enzymes? I suppose a digressive tarification might be advantageous; but perhaps spaced over a year.
Heather, Principal Investigator, Europe
The ability to select and buy multiple enzymes at one time at a discounted price would be attractive to customers (including my lab). Often we run out of one or two enzymes and it is costly from shipping etc. to send out overnight only one to replace; however, not much discount is given if we were to purchase multiple enzymes at once. If this 'club' could offer such discounts (e.g. 10 different enzymes for price of 8; or even 5 for price of 4), this would be helpful in such financially tight times.
Mark, Principal Investigator, North America
The benefits of the supplier would really be those of New England Biolabs. They have extremely high quality products with tons of extra information. Their catalog is a fantastic resource. The cost of purchasing enzymes from them is not in the enzymes its in the shipping costs. I would buy enzymes from them forever if they waived the expensive shipping costs.
Chasta, Professor/Teacher, North America
The club could be a forum for scientists to discuss problems in the use of certain enzymes and the protocols that can be used to overcome them.
Thelma, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, Europe
The club might combine special offers with curious stories and protocols. The mailing be it in e-mail format or print format, might tell an interesting story behind particular restriction enzyme (e.g. some enzymes were isolated from human dental flora) or story about it properties. The point is to strike curiosity within reader. Second part, should be an important/common/novel protocol that uses restriction enzymes. The point of the second part is to provide useful information that can be used in the lab right away. The third part can contain marketing offers related to the enzymes mentioned in the first part and second part.
Anton, Staff Scientist, North America
The club might offer a good website with a forum where technical issues (like buffer conditions and tricks) could be discussed.
Marc, Production/Manufacturing, Europe
The club might offer as gift an enzyme (usual enzymes as BamHI, EcoRI) when you order other enzyme.
Francisco, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, Europe
The club might offer: - discounted pricing - related gifts (buffers, BSA, etc.) - free shipping - protocols using the enzyme of the month.
Georgina, Principal Investigator, North America
The club will have a newsletter describing the story of the discovery of the enzyme of the month, its landmark applications, suggestion on possible new applications, list of isoenzymes and a list of new properties that would be useful to have for this enzyme (e.g., heat inactivation might be a useful trait to have for one tube restriction/cloning reactions). Members of the club will receive copies of the qc data if they order the enzyme of the month; Special offers like buy one enzyme of the month and get a coupon for one free enzyme of the next month.
George, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, Asia
The club will offer good quality enzyme for reasonable prices.
Chee How, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe
The company offers pure and reliable enzymes with long life. The price of the products are reasonable and they are shipped and delivered on time.
reza, Principal Investigator, Europe
The establishment of such a club will be in order, however, at the end of the day it all comes down to the price and the lab. The key benefit would be to find out about discount pricing on enzymes that are used regularly. However, the prices of some RE companies are so high that it would not really matter if there is a discount, especially if your lab is using enzymes at 50% less.
Mauritz, Post Doctoral Fellow, Africa
The key benefits of this program would be the ability to reserve standing orders of enzymes at favorable pricing and reliable consistency.
Karen, Principal Investigator, North America
The key benefits would be extra units for the same price, a discount on other items purchased with that enzyme on the same invoice, or a 50% discount on the price of the enzyme for that month and perhaps for large volume purchases an extra discount on other products purchased with that enzyme. A scientist would join to get the extra value on the items they are purchasing and might even then switch other products from their current supplier to the one with the enzyme club.
John, Laboratory Technician, North America
The key benefits would be the high volume or frequent use discounts, access to experimental details about how to troubleshoot failed reactions, priority shipment/delivery to loyal customers.
Alex, Staff Scientist, North America
The most common reason to join such a club would be to take advantage of the special offers.
Adam, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe
The most obvious key benefit would be to encourage researchers to try a different vendor than their normal supplier. Discounts or free samples offered through a "club" would be a good initiative, as well.
Todd, Laboratory Technician, North America
The novelty of restriction enzymes has long past, so researchers do not tend to look beyond those enzymes they are already using, or to their other functions. The "enzyme of the month" club would highlight a particular enzyme per month, provide a brief description with illustrations, and illustrate several recent uses as found in key journals. It would also compare uses of the enzyme to other more novel techniques, and establish its pros and cons, such as price, time, and extent of data. Lastly, promotions would also be run where members could receive small samples of the month's restriction enzyme, and/or utilize a 25% off discount towards its purchase. Members would also receive a free t-shirt or other promotional item each year after their first purchase.
Vincent, Staff Scientist, North America
The only benefit would be to provide technical information, and hints, to new scientists about some of the tricks one can use to maximize the usability of each enzyme. Membership would be a good idea to not only keep up with the latest news about enzymes, but also to learn a thing or two about each enzyme and how they could be used in one's research.
Ivan, Staff Scientist, North America
The only reason would be financial (discounts, special offers), as I believe there are small differences among enzymes from different suppliers.
Irene, Staff Scientist, Europe
There are definitely restriction enzymes that most anyone doing molecular biology should have in their freezer for routine use. There are new enzymes that have utility that established labs may not yet be using...there are also enzymes that aren't used as much as they once were. Enzymes that are part of a 'system' of molecular biology (e.g. the Gateway 'tm' enzymes)could also benefit (and benefit *us*) from being touted from time-to-time to remind us of utility. All of these are reasons for an 'enzyme of the month' club to tout a given enzyme. If protocols, specifications, routine uses, etc. were available and *archived* for club members to use, it might make a nice addition to the online toolboxes we all have.
Ivo, Staff Scientist, North America
This may attract investigators to try other related RE.
Michael, Principal Investigator, North America
This will be a good idea considering the high price of these enzymes, any offer will be welcome!.
Hector, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe
This would be only appreciated by the big labs who would use large amounts of a single enzyme. A better offer I think is to offer a start up package for new investigators to the field of molecular biology or those setting up their labs to provide an across the board discount (10-20%) for their initial purchase of products.
Dan, Principal Investigator, North America
This would not work well for many of us in an industrial environment. The primary focus is on getting quality product in a timely manner, with price for restriction enzymes, being competitive all over, a secondary concern. However, being part of a large multi-site corporation, corporate purchasing policies and bureaucracy dictate to a large extent which supplier we use. As long as the enzymes work pretty well for our needs, we order what we need when we need them.
Bruce, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America
This would only be desirable in a larger organization where several different suppliers were being used. The club would have the opportunity to compare the activities and ease of use of different suppliers with a view to rationalization of the purchasing and making recommendation as to the best supplier for an enzyme for a particular requirement.
Jonathan, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe
This would only be of benefit to researchers who regularly and routinely use a restricted pool of enzymes in standard assays/experiments. Most enzymes purchased in many labs are only used once or twice for a given experiment, and are purchased in an unpredictable fashion, with no knowledge of experimental enzyme needs before the actual need arises.
Lauren, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America
To become a member of the club, one should buy X units of some kind of enzyme. Then, as a member, one can buy discounted enzymes dependent on month (January - BamHI, February HindIII).
Jan, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, Europe
To discuss problem(s) and solutions (troubleshooting) they encountered during RE use.
Sadanand, Principal Investigator, North America
To get better discount. I really do not see any other advantage of being a member of such club.
Shrikant, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America
To offer discounts and to promote underutilized enzymes.
Michael, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, Europe
To talk about different problems encountered and their troubleshooting.
Stefan, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America
To unite scientists having good experience with the particular enzyme while sharing their experiences along with some benefits (discounts).
Emil, Professor/Teacher, Europe
Today I guess a price reduction would feature highly on such a "club".
gerard, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe
Trouble shooting, also, new applications.
Kavita, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America
Try before you buy a wide range of odd enzymes.
Bruce, Staff Scientist, Europe
Unique properties that would ease cloning of large fragments or multiple cloning.
Gurmit, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America
We do order a great deal from NEB. I'd like to see some perks in addition to the free shipping we already receive. I'd like to see some sort of volume discount. If you order a specific dollar amt at 1 time, perhaps we could get a 10% discount. This would encourage us to consolidate orders more than we currently do, and could also save NEB in the long run with excess shipping charges. I'd also give out freebies with larger orders. Floaties are always welcome, as are eppie tube cap openers. Another idea would be to have a buy one get one free type of a deal on certain enzymes each month. That may encourage us to stock up occasionally.
Holly, Staff Scientist, North America
We use a wide variety of RE, mostly from NEB, however we use them in very small amounts and as a result have little use for large recurring orders. In fact our stocks generally get used past the use-by date. However we are interested in new products, especially ones with unique or interesting properties (nicking, non-palindromic, outside of recognition site cutting, very frequent cutters (2,3 base) etc) so a club should promote trials or special on new and interesting products.
Stuart, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, Australasia/Pacific
When we find an enzyme that works well for our protocol we always use that...by changing enzyme you often get problems.
Vidar, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, Europe
Which enzymes work the best for particular situations and protocols for difficult enzymes.
S.E., Professor/Teacher, North America
Would be good if there would be a discounted pricing for loyal customers say for a particular enzyme commonly ordered by the lab.
Jason, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, Asia
Yes, I'm strongly in favor of a RE club. Manufacturers could contact members for enzymes' evaluation.
Luigi, Principal Investigator, Europe
Yes, specially if there is any offer regarding price discounts, it would help scientists a lot and the savings could be invested in some other way for research purpose. It is indeed a great, useful idea!!
Thandoni Rao, Staff Scientist, Asia
You could give a 10% discount on the three most purchased. Might as well get a discount on something you have to buy anyway.
Gemma, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, Europe
You think that most people care whether they get 3000 U for the price of 2000 U? Restriction enzymes are reasonably priced and I have _never_ worked in a lab that actually tracked and bought discounted restriction enzymes. Restriction enzymes are normally bought when you need them, and the only thing you then follow is the quality/price/application ratio at the time of buying. To make it clear: for regular sticky-end cloning, you go for Promega or Fermentas (normally low-priced enzymes). If you need a fussy enzyme, or perhaps need gDNA cut for Southerns, then you might go for quality (i.e., NEB) instead.
Dubravko, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe
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