GT asked GSAC exhibitors for the industry’s newest buzzwords. Answers indicate a possible marketing lull.
“Savannah: Back to Hilton Head next year.”
Warner Yuen, Ann Cantrell, Apple Computer
“People are still shell-shocked and looking for the next big thing."
Greg Asbagh, The Automation Partnership
“We’re the ones pushing the new word we’ve coined: lexomics, the study of the texts of genomes with the goal of incorporating all of the information coded within.”
Mark LeBlanc and Betsey Dexter Dyer, Wheaton College
“Slow!”
Shinji Yue, Invitrogen, Carlsbad, Calif.
“Cool koosie!”
Nilah Mazza, Geospiza, Seattle
“‘Quiet’ is the most common word we heard.”
Sue Richards (L), Genevieve Arnold, Genetix, New Milton, UK
“Freebie!”
Natasha Martinez, Confirmant, Milton Park, UK
“Are there any?” “‘Can I get a Frisbee?’ is the best.” “I think the economy is down and people aren’t as inventive as they used to be.”
(L to R) Mark Demesmaeker, Brendan Gibson, Arijan Chakravarty, and Tobias Lehtipalo, Spotfire, Somerville, Mass.
“I don’t think I heard a new buzzword.” Does that mean the industry is stagnating? “I can’t say that — I work for Incyte.”
Gary Daubresse, Incyte Genomics, Palo Alto, Calif.
“Last one I heard was Systeomics. It’s actually the title of a new conference. It’s a stomach-turning new term.”
Al Shpuntoff, AFS Informatics