As the corona virus surges across the globe, vigilance and elevated corona virus response activities will continue unabated. Laboratories the world over are busy and have been kept open all through the lockdown period as the race to test for infections and develop drugs, diagnostics, and vaccines continues with undiminished fervor. While industrial laboratories were shut down as part of the containment measures, microbiology labs, virology labs, clinical testing labs, research labs and academic labs have been actively involved in the global fight against the pandemic. Against this backdrop, the global market for Pipettes and Pipettors which are indispensable laboratories instruments and tools to dispense measured volumes of liquids, will reach a projected market size of US$2.4 billion by the year 2027, trailing a CAGR of 5.5%. As COVID-19 antiviral drugs and vaccine development intensifies, billions of dollars are being invested in over 100 vaccine candidates forcing labs to work at full and extended capacity. Scientists across the worlds are working away in labs analyzing data and finding newer ways to advance their corona virus research projects. With all healthcare resources redirected at managing the pandemic, routine healthcare has been severely disrupted especially diabetes and other chronic disease management. The decline in biochemical testing workloads in clinical diagnostic labs is more than offset by COVID-19 testing as infections continue to rise. As countries step up testing in a desperate bid to curb the escalating pandemic, growing number of clinical labs are being repurposed for dedicated COVID-19 testing.

The COVID-19 serology race is getting bigger and faster. Serology tests remain important as it supports community surveillance efforts by playing a key role in identifying individuals with past COVID-19 infections. Responding in droves are developers racing to develop new COVID-19 antibody tests, and laboratories preparing to test samples. Along with diagnostics and research labs, joining the ranks of essential services are food safety testing labs. Continuous monitoring of the food chain also remains critically important to public health and safety. Uninterrupted functioning of these laboratories is also helping keep the demand pipe open for laboratory equipment, instruments and consumables. Demand for pipettes and pipettors, the most indispensable and commonly used hand tools in a lab will witness healthy gains in the midst of this unprecedented public health crisis. With ultra-micro volumes being increasingly used in clinical and analytical research processes such as liquid transferring, dilution, and assays development, inaccuracy at any stage impacts the end results and disrupts the workflow.

The current crisis presents a strong business case for continued technology innovation in analytical instruments. Over the years, pipettes have witnessed significant advancements in the materials used to manufacture them, from glass to high-grade plastics. Ergonomics and pipetting have also become virtually inseparable aspects, given that pipetting is a repetitive action associated with repetitive motion injuries. Substantial improvements have been made at lowering stress and fatigue for users. With companies moving towards reducing the amount of reagents used in the processes to save costs, accuracy and precision play an important role. New products in the market will incorporate automation, contamination and corrosion resistance features. The trend towards miniaturization of liquid handling capabilities will gain momentum in the post corona virus period leading to the commercial availability and popularity of fully integrated, multiple-application equipment with a wide range of functionalities and customization features. Bluetooth electronic pipette represents an innovative concept with attractive potential in transforming biological research and improving overall throughput. Electronic pipettes allow researchers to quickly add reagents to wells of micro titer plates without compromising accuracy. The addition of Bluetooth takes electronic pipettes to the next level of performance improvement through connectivity with dedicated software for additional functionality. These cloud-based software solutions allow creation of a comprehensive spectrum of pipetting protocols, which can be shared with others and used for training programs related to normalization, serial dilution, qPCR or other workflow applications.