Scientist.com (formerly known as Assay Depot) is a network of public and private

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) refers to commercial activities including the electronic buying or selling products and services which are conducted on online platforms or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile co ...

marketplaces that connect buyers and sellers of scientific research services. The company was founded in 2007 by Kevin Lustig, Chris Petersen and Andrew Martin and launched its first public research marketplace in September 2008.

History

Research marketplaces make it possible for scientists to use

contract research organization In the life sciences, a contract research organization (CRO) is a company that provides support to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries in the form of research services outsourced on a contract basis. A CRO may provid ...

s (CROs) to

outsource Outsourcing is a business practice in which company, companies use external providers to carry out business processes that would otherwise be handled internally. Outsourcing sometimes involves transferring employees and assets from one firm to ...

an entire pharmaceutical

drug discovery In the fields of medicine, biotechnology, and pharmacology, drug discovery is the process by which new candidate medications are discovered. Historically, drugs were discovered by identifying the active ingredient from traditional remedies or ...

project without requiring physical access to a

laboratory A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratories are found in a variety of settings such as schools ...

. The company has been referred to as the “

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc., doing business as Amazon, is an American multinational technology company engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Bellevu ...

for medical research,” “A

Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., often referred to as Home Depot, is an American multinational corporation, multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportat ...

for science and medicine” and the “

EBay eBay Inc. ( , often stylized as ebay) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide. ...

for drug discovery services." In 2011 and 2012, Scientist.com launched

outsourcing Outsourcing is a business practice in which companies use external providers to carry out business processes that would otherwise be handled internally. Outsourcing sometimes involves transferring employees and assets from one firm to another ...

marketplaces for the large pharmaceutical companies

Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered at The Spiral (New York City), The Spiral in Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 184 ...

and

AstraZeneca AstraZeneca plc () (AZ) is a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with its headquarters at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in Cambridge, UK. It has a portfolio of products for major diseases in areas includi ...

, respectively. The marketplace was featured in a 2012

TEDMED TEDMED is an annual conference focusing on health and medicine, with a year-round web-based community. TEDMED is an independent event operating under license from the nonprofit TED conference. Background , TEDMED staff operates from Stamfor ...

talk given by then-

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

professor

Atul Butte Atul Janardhan Butte (August 26, 1969 – June 13, 2025) was an American biomedical informatician, pediatrician, and biotechnology entrepreneur. He was the Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg Distinguished Professor at the University of Californi ...

. In 2013, the company launched a private academic marketplace for the

National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...

. By June 2016, when the company

rebranded Rebranding is a marketing strategy in which a new name, term, symbol, design, concept or combination thereof is created for an established brand with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investors ...

as Scientist.com, it operated private research marketplaces for 10 pharmaceutical companies and the US

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

. In 2017, Scientist.com rolled out a series of new marketplace features to attract more customers, including COMPLi®, a comprehensive process that oversees the sourcing of regulated services for scientific research, such as the legal and ethical acquisition of

biological specimens A biological specimen (also called a biospecimen) is a biological laboratory specimen held by a biorepository for research. Such a specimen would be taken by sampling so as to be representative of any other specimen taken from the source of the ...

animal welfare Animal welfare is the quality of life and overall well-being of animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures ...

toxicology Toxicology is a scientific discipline, overlapping with biology, chemistry, pharmacology, and medicine, that involves the study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living organisms and the practice of diagnosing and treating ex ...

studies, secondary real world evidence (RWE),

health economics Health economics is a branch of economics concerned with issues related to Health care efficiency, efficiency, effectiveness, value and behavior in the production and consumption of health and healthcare. Health economics is important in dete ...

and outcomes research (HEOR), and

GxP GXP may refer to: * GxP a generalization of quality guidelines * Great Plains Energy, an American utility holding company * ''Tenchi Muyo! GXP is a Japanese anime television series animated by AIC and broadcast on NTV from April 3 to Se ...

services. By the end of 2017, the company operated private marketplaces for most of the world's major pharmaceutical companies and entered into a collaboration with

VWR International VWR International is an American company involved in the distribution of research laboratory products, with over 1,200,000 items to more than 250,000 customers in North America and Europe. The U.S. division is headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvan ...

to create an end-to-end research solution. In 2018, Scientist.com launched DataSmart, a platform to ensure

data integrity Data integrity is the maintenance of, and the assurance of, data accuracy and consistency over its entire Information Lifecycle Management, life-cycle. It is a critical aspect to the design, implementation, and usage of any system that stores, proc ...

; DataSmart is based on proprietary

blockchain The blockchain is a distributed ledger with growing lists of Record (computer science), records (''blocks'') that are securely linked together via Cryptographic hash function, cryptographic hashes. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of th ...

technology developed by Scientist.com. The company also opened an office in

Tokyo, Japan Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

in 2018 in order to work more closely with Japanese pharma companies. In 2019, Scientist.com unveiled its first original service offering, Trial Insights, a digital reporting platform that aggregates publicly available

clinical trials Clinical trials are prospective biomedical or behavioral research studies on human subject research, human participants designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions, including new treatments (such as novel v ...

data into usable online dashboards. Later in 2019, Scientist.com launched SciPay, an early-payment program for the thousands of registered suppliers on its marketplace. In late 2020, Scientist.com acquire
HealthEconomics.Com
the world’s leading ConnectedCommunity in the Value, Evidence and Access space. Then, in 2021, Scientist.com completed three additional acquisitions, one of which wa
InsideScientific
an online environment that facilitates the exchange of scientific information via webinars, podcasts, and more. Next, was Notch8, which provides software and app development services, and have since rebranded a
Scientist.com Software Solutions
Lastly, is
BioPharmCatalyst
an online resource for

stock market A stock market, equity market, or share market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks (also called shares), which represent ownership claims on businesses; these may include ''securities'' listed on a public stock exchange a ...

investors of publicly traded

biotech Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists in the field are kn ...

and

pharmaceutical Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal product, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the ...

companies listed on U.S. markets (

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

and

NYSE The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

Business model

Scientist.com is a

procure-to-pay Procure-to-pay (also known as Purchase to Pay (P2P)) is a term used in the software industry to designate a specific subdivision of the procurement process. The P2P systems enable the integration of the purchasing department with the accounts pa ...

B2B e-commerce B2B e-commerce, short for business-to-business electronic commerce, is the sale of goods or services between businesses via an online sales portal. In general, it is used to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of a company's sales efforts. In ...

marketplace. Research customers use the marketplace to design, purchase and pay for custom research services and products. Research suppliers, or contract research organizations (CROs), use the marketplace to communicate with customers, submit quotes, receive orders and submit invoices. Scientist.com receives a transaction fee on all marketplace purchases.

Projects

COVID Collaboration Center

In spring of 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Scientist.com created a free online tool called the Covid Collaboration Center. Its goal was to empower researchers, protect healthcare workers and help cure this disease.The website connected COVID-19 researchers and promote collaboration, data-sharingand academic and industry partnerships.

Rare Disease Challenges

In 2013, Scientist.com partnered with the Rare Genomics Institute to create and run a science challenge called Be HEARD (Helping Empower and Accelerate Research Discoveries). Half a million dollars worth of scientific services, ranging in value from $2,500 to $75,000, were awarded to 26

rare disease A rare disease is any disease that affects a small percentage of the population. In some parts of the world, the term orphan disease describes a rare disease whose rarity results in little or no funding or research for treatments, without financi ...

researchers. In 2015, the Be HEARD science challenge resulted in over $600,000 in awards to 31 rare disease research programs. In 2017, Scientist.com partnered with

Global Genes Global Genes is a global non-profit advocacy organization for individuals and families fighting rare and genetic diseases. The organization is associated with a blue denim "Genes Ribbon" that is intended to raise awareness of patients affected by r ...

to sponsor the “RARE Battle of the Brains,” a

Shark Tank ''Shark Tank'' is an American business Reality television#Investments, reality television series that premiered on August 9, 2009, on American Broadcasting Company, ABC.Hibberd, James (May 10, 2012)Dancing,' 'Bachelor,' and a bigger 'Shark Tank ...

-style pitch competition between early-stage innovators from biotech and academia.

Open Science Challenges

In 2012, Scientist.com partnered with

BioCurious BioCurious is a community biology laboratory and nonprofit organization located in Sunnyvale, California, co-founded by Eri Gentry, Kristina Hathaway, Josh Perfetto, Raymond McCauley, Joseph Jackson, and Tito Jankowski. With the help of Kickstart ...

in the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose. The Association of Bay Area Governments ...

and

Genspace Genspace is a non-profit organization and a community biology laboratory located in Brooklyn, New York. Stemming from the hacking, biohacking, and DIYbio movements, Genspace has focused (since 2009) on supporting citizen science and public acc ...

in New York to run open science challenges for citizen and young scientists. In 2018, Scientist.com joined

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

's Brain and Spine Institute

incubator An incubator is anything that performs or facilitates various forms of incubation, and may refer to: Biology and medicine * Incubator (culture), a device used to grow and maintain microbiological cultures or cell cultures * Incubator (egg), a dev ...

, iPEPS-ICM, to launch a call for early stage biotechs to pitch novel approaches to fighting central nervous systems (CNS) disease.

Investors

The company raised $1.8M in October 2007 from family and friends. In June 2011, the company raised $1.7M from

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

producer

Jack Giarraputo Jack Giarraputo is an American film producer who co-founded Happy Madison in 1999 with Adam Sandler, with whom he went to college. Film career Most of his work with Happy Madison has been in films starring Sandler from ''Happy Gilmore'' onward, ...

and friends. In March 2014, the company raised $3.4M in financing led by Jean Balgrosky of Bootstrap Ventures. In May 2017, the company raised $24M in an equity financing co-led by

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

-based Leerink Transformation Partners (LTP) and

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

and Boston-based 5AM Ventures; new investors included Heritage Provider Network, and existing investors Bootstrap Ventures and Jack Giarraputo also participated.

References

{{reflist 2007 establishments in California Business services companies established in 2007 Companies based in California Online marketplaces of the United States Solana Beach, California Business-to-business