Welcome to our web site

Lab automation technologies can transform lab work.  Before we can reap those benefits we have to transform the way people approach lab automation. That is what this organization is about: helping people learn how to plan, implement, evaluate and use the products & technologies available to them.

Our job is to help you improve the performance and productivity of your lab.  Laboratories, both research and testing, are under pressure to be more productive with limited resources.  We believe that automation - properly implemented - is an effective answer to that need.

The key is how to use automation technologies effectively, meeting both performance and cost criteria.

The Institute for Laboratory Automation (ILA) is a non-profit corporation focused on supporting the laboratory automation community. Our purpose is to help scientists, other laboratory professionals, and IT support groups:

• understand the role automation systems can play in their work, and improving the productivity of lab operations,
• develop plans for technology choices and use, including the implications of product selections - and data-life cycle management,
• successfully develop automation (robotics, data stations) and informatics (LIMS, Electronic Laboratory Notebooks, database systems, etc.) programs.

Our work will initially be focused on three areas:

Education

the changes in lab automation technologies and the need for labs to interact with corporate groups has put increased emphasis on laboratory technology planning, management, and integration. We are developing and offering both public and on-site courses to assist end-users, management, implementers, and those using automation to make the most effective use of current tools and prepare for new technologies. One key educational program is Laboratory Automation Engineering which describes a new approach to the design & implementation of automation systems. Another focuses on education for laboratory management and the role managers play in automation use.

Conferences

as an extension to our courses, we will be developing conferences to examine specific technologies from the viewpoints of vendors, users, and regulators so that the community in general will be better prepared to work with emerging products and systems.

Standards

the successful development of laboratory automation systems depends on standards. Data interchange, communications, storage, and standardized practices are all areas where work beneficial to the lab automation community should be done.