LAE Articles:

On this page:

• Automating Science
• Economic Realities of Laboratory Automation
• Integrating Corporate and Laboratory Informatics
• Integration in Laboratory Automation & Informatics
  
• Managing Laboratories in the Informatics Age
  
• Integrating Laboratory Automation
  
• Discussion of Open-Source Methodologies in Laboratory Automation
  
• Technology Management: Product Life Cycle
  
• Outsourcing Laboratory Work - Establishing the Necessary Policies and Practices
  
• Management's Role in Laboratory Automation
  

The articles listed below were written before the LAE work was transferred from Delphinus. The content reflects the original thinking that went into LAE's development.

• Laboratory Managements Role in Scientific Technology Management
  
• Are You a Laboratory Automation Engineer

Automating Science

Lab Manager Magazine, January 2011
Written by: Joseph Liscouski, Executive Director of the Institute For Laboratory Automation
Would you hire someone with out-of-date skills? You might be doing just that. We are in the midst of a transformation of the way laboratory work is done. Those changes are not going to be incremental; they will require a major change in the skills and experience people need in order to be effective. This article takes a look at what working in an automated laboratory will be like and what the needed skills are based on the experiences of those working in facilities dependent upon successful implementation of automation technologies (which include laboratory informatics).

Link to article on magzines web site...

The Economic Realities of Laboratory Automation

Lab Manager Magazine, January 2010
Written by: Joseph Liscouski, Executive Director of the Institute For Laboratory Automation
Budgets are tightening and expenses are being carefully watched. Is laboratory automation a realistic way to increase productivity under those constraints? Imagine a lab without any automated equipment. How would your productivity be affected? Automated equipment provides a significant economic benefit to lab operations. However, the real benefits, both economic and functional, come when people change their thinking about how to plan for, choose, and apply the technologies.

Link to article on magzines web site...

Integrating Corporate And Laboratory Informatics

Life Science Leader, October 2009
Written by: Joseph Liscouski, director of the Institute For Laboratory Automation
We’ve reached a point in the development of informatics technologies where the potential far outweighs our ability to take advantage of it. If companies want to make the gains in productivity that are possible, we have to change the approach used to structure corporate information infrastructures. Planning has to be more global than departmental. Those working with informatics systems need to be trained to think beyond short-term requirements and examine how the result of their work is used corporatewide.

Link to article on magzines web site...

Integration in Laboratory Automation & Informatics

This document was developed with the intent of presenting ideas and eliciting comments. Based on the comments received, we’ll determine our next course of action.

In John Trigg’s weblog “The Integrated Lab” there have been a number of discussions about the need for integration in laboratory systems as well as questions about what it will take to get us to the point where integration is possible. The point of this article is to provide one answer to those questions.

The purpose of integration in the lab is to make it easier to connect systems; for example, pass results from a chromatography data system to a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) or Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) and then on to other groups. The results of this ability to integrate systems include:

• Smoother workflow – less manual effort, avoiding duplication of data entry, this is something that people are striving for and accomplishing in production environments including manufacturing, video production and graphics design,
• Easier path for meeting regulatory requirements – integrated systems, with integration built in by vendors, results in systems that are easier to validate and maintain,
• Reduced cost of development and support,
• Reduction in duplication of records, better data management,
  More flexibility – as we’ll discuss below, integrated systems built on modular components will make it easier to upgrade/update systems, and meet changing requirements.

Link to article on "the Integrated Lab" website ...

Download a PDF version...

"Managing Laboratories in the Informatics Age",

Joe Liscouski, Scientific Computing Magazine Web Site, July 2009, http://www.scientificcomputing.com/article-in-Managing-Laboratories-in-the-Informatics-Age-071309.aspx,

The impact of automation and informatics on laboratory work. Link to article on magazines web site.

"Integrating Laboratory Automation",

Joe Liscouski, Lab Manager Magazine, April 2009, Vol. 4 #3, pgs 42-44,

Improving the effectiveness of laboratory work. Link to article on magazines web site.

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"Discussion of Open-Source Methodologies in Laboratory Automation",

Neil Benn & Joe Liscouski, Journal of the Association for Laboratory Automation, April 2009, Vol. 14 #2, pgs 82-89,

Many industries, both within and outside healthcare, have benefited from the adoption of open-source software and open standards. Notable examples of this include the use of open-source languages, such as Python and Perl to perform both chemo- and bioinformatics work. In parallel industries, most of the world's largest Web sites operate on open-source software both in the operating system (Linux) and the Web server software (Apache).

However, the field of laboratory automation has neither adopted nor created a great deal of standards and has also not taken advantage of the wide range of open-source software available. This article introduces open-source software and discusses the benefits to a wider world and the possible advantages to the field of drug discovery and laboratory automation. Link to article on magazines web site.

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"Technology Management: Product Life Cycle",

Laboratory Manager Magazine, July/August 2008

What effect will product upgrades, version changes, and retirement have on your lab’s operations? Are you prepared for it? Access to lab data and processes stored in intelligent devices will become a concern as systems are upgraded, changed, or mature as part of their life cycle. The matter is more pressing for computer controlled data acquisition/analysis systems since they are not single products, but layered products each with its own separate life cycle plan. Link to article on magazines web site.

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"Outsourcing Laboratory Work - Establishing the Necessary Policies and Practices",

Supplement to BioPharm International, April 2008
Discusses the need for laying the groundwork needed to take advantage of outsourcing to extend the labs capabilities, and carry out development projects. Link to article on magazines web site.

"Laboratory Managements Role in Scientific Technology Management"

This note, published in David Sands "The Robotic Laboratory" (February 2008 issue), covers the need for laboratory management to take a more active role in the management of the hardware / software technologies that laboratories have come to depend on.

"Are You a Laboratory Automation Engineer"

Journal of the Association for Laboratory Automation (JALA 2006;11:157–162) This is the initial article that describes the need for, and characteristics of, a Laboratory Automation Engineer.