Field Of Laboratory Automation Research Articles

CyBio® Scheduler – Biology meets Throughput – Realizing complex assay systems in an Ultra High Throughput (uHTS) setting

The CyBio Scheduler software is a software platform for executing biological assays in a parallelized and optimized manner. The biological benefit of different automation features of this software will be presented, to give you a great impression of the advantages for your daily challenges. CyBio AG has a 20 year history producing robust, reliable and high quality pipetting robots. CyBio has also been an innovator in the field of laboratory automation since the early nineties. Biomed Tech 2012; 57 (Suppl. 1) © 2012 by Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · Boston. DOI 10.1515/bmt-2012-4567

Wow, this is Great!

’ve been on the job as the JALA editor-in-chief for I almost a year already, and one of the most satisfying things about it is how often I hear praise and surprise from colleagues to whom I introduce the journal. My day job takes me around the globe regularly, and regardless of whether I’m working with graduate students in our laboratory at Northwestern University, dining with colleagues at Taiwan University, making a presentation to scholars in St. Petersburg, Russia, connecting with nanodiamond specialists in Los Angeles, meeting dignitaries at the University of Beijing, or struggling with 100-degree heat and unreliable Internet connections in Singapore, I am always aware of the ‘‘other hat’’ that sits figuratively on my headdthat of being JALA editor-in-chief. With this other hat comes the duties of ambassador, ombudsman, and cheerleader. This is where things become fun. Almost without fail, when I introduce colleagues and other business associates to JALA, they are impressed and excited to discover such a unique and valuable resource. They eagerly seize its value, because they recognize that the integrative field of laboratory automation is continually evolving and influencing innovation throughout fundamental/basic/translational domains (academia and government) and being applied in the marketplace and in commercial practice (industry). With this in focus, JALA has no equal.

Discussion of Open-Source Methodologies in Laboratory Automation

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.

LabEvolution: What's the Next Mutation?

As an organization focused on the application of science to the automation of science, ALA seeks to create an autocatalytic ecosystem where technology providers and technology users compete and collaborate. In some sense, we are creating the primordial ooze from which new systems of discovery science will emerge. It is our emphasis on informatics, tying together automation systems with the data that they generate, that distinguishes the field of laboratory automation from traditional methods of hypothesis-driven science and the more recent discovery science.

Python and Automated Laboratory System Control

The Python programming language is reviewed, with an emphasis on features and add-on modules useful for solving problems in the field of laboratory automation. Complexities of multi-instrument automated system control and coordination are discussed, along with the difficulties that arise when multitasking is used to implement system controllers. We introduce Python's generators, a feature not found in other popular languages, and demonstrate how to use them to simplify the development of multi-instrument laboratory automation system controllers.

Usability in the Lab: Techniques for Creating Usable Products

Laboratory automation and instrumentation vendors frequently claim usability among their long lists of features and benefits—but can they justify that claim? What makes a product usable and how do you design for usability? This article outlines an approach used to create usable products in other application areas, such as eCommerce and medical device development, and suggests that a similar approach could provide benefits for users and developers alike in the field of laboratory automation. The user-centered design process is summarized, together with a set of usability heuristics that can be applied during the design process and used to evaluate usability during development.

Modeling, Analysis, Simulation and Control of Laboratory Automation Systems Using Petri Nets: Part 1. Modeling

A move from fixed, statically scheduled laboratory automation systems to more dynamic and adaptive behavior introduces complexities and challenges that have not been thoroughly explored in the field of laboratory automation. Powerful tools are required for the systematic modeling, analysis, simulation, and control of such systems. In this first part of a tutorial series, we introduce and explore Petri nets as a tool that can be used to model dynamically controlled laboratory automation systems. Subsequent contributions to this series will look at formal mathematical techniques for analyzing Petri net models, and methods for simulating and controlling laboratory automation systems using Petri nets.

JALA Completes Ninth Year of Publication

6A JALA Decem This issue marks nine years of publication for JALA. The six issues published in 2004 offered lab automation professionals unique information and insight via 20 original reports, 21 technical briefs, 11 technology reviews, three JALA Tutorials, six feature stories, close to 30 pages of literature highlights, 75 pages of World News, and 30 pages of other news. Throughout the entire year, issue after issue, page after page, JALA continued to serve as a testament to the expertise, energy and enthusiasm of willing and able volunteers. Volunteers fuel the momentum and success of our Journal and our association. In 2004, JALA and its readers benefited from the active support and participation of four guest editors, nearly 200 authors, 70 manuscript reviewers, and 28 editorial board members. Guest editors, in particular, made important contributions this past year. We benefited from their expertise and ability to fill their special issues with a well-rounded variety of articles that collectively illuminated a continuum of different perspectives on a common theme. Most readers seem to agree the results were outstanding, and that the planning and guidance of these guest experts added important value to pertinent subject areas. Their specialized knowledge helped readers explore and understand current trends in automation and cellular immunology, automation in academics, information technology and informatics, and it gave readers a taste of the breadth and depth of educational opportunities available at ALA’s annual LabAutomation conference. Because the field of laboratory automation embraces many different incarnations, JALA’s volunteer publishing team worked hard in 2004 to

Coming in through the out Door

There’s a rock group that sings a song called ‘‘In Through the Out Door.’’ Not that I’m a fan of theirs, but I thought of it recently as I prepare to rotate off the ALA’s board of directors and as your outgoing president. What’s so ‘‘in’’ about being ‘‘out’’? Well, if you haven’t looked around lately, there’s a tremendous amount of progress that your board of directors has made during the past two years. And it’s progress that is bound to reshape and revamp ALA for many years to come. Let’s start from an organizational point of view. For the first time in our history, we have a professional and experienced chief administrative officer running the organization. Greg Dummer has made an immediate and strong impact in elevating the way ALA runs itself and in enhancing our value to members and to the industry. Under Greg’s leadership, we have built a capable staff organization to support our members and our leadership initiatives. Once run almost solely by volunteers, ALA now has a very experienced group of professionals guiding our professional affairs. Then there are programmatic achievements that have occurred, all geared to better serving the community of laboratory automation professionals. These include: A new agreement with Elsevier to publish the Journal of the Association for Laboratory Automation (JALA). Our goal is to make JALA the premier journal in the field of laboratory automation.

Laboratory 2000 ‐ The challenge of achieving efficiency and compliance

Significant advances within the field of laboratory automation and instrumentation have greatly benefited the pharmaceutical industry in its quest to discover, develop and monitor the quality of its products. Necessitated by the need for efficiency and greater productivity, faster and more cost-effective means of analyses exist in the form of devices made up of complex electromechanical components, all logically controlled and most with the capability to interface with sophisticated information systems. This benefit does come with a price, a greater responsibility to ensure data quality while complying with increased regulatory requirements. Commitment to this responsibility presents a substantial challenge to scientists and managers throughout the industry. Due diligence must be demonstrated. A comprehensive evaluation of every laboratory system utilized, a solid plan of action for correcting any known deficiencies including upgrades or complete replacement, and an accurate monitoring procedure with the ability to measure progress are all absolute necessities to ensure success. Crossfunctional team effott and communication must transpire with full managerial support. Vendors need to be audited, made aware of any functional or quality inadequacies they possess as well as the pharmaceutical industry's expectation for these shortcomings to be rapidly corrected. Suppliers of these systems should also be encouraged to provide complete ‘off-the-shelf solutions’ to eliminate the need for in-house customization. The requirements for regulatory compliance in today's electronic environment have been well publicized. The players involved are not only listening, but also taking the necessary steps to retain and improve efficiency without sacrificing quality. With the proper measures, planning and action, a highly automated, cost-effective and compliant laboratory operation can become a reality.

Simulation as a Tool for Optimizing Automated Laboratory Equipment and Processes?

In the design of complex automated manufacturing equipment simulation technology has increasingly developed into an essential planning tool which is highly used in the field of semiconductor industry. In the field of laboratory technology a similar trend towards automated systems or automated sequencing of systems can be found. This results in the question if the use of simulation can help detecting optimization potentials in the design of laboratory equipment as well as in laboratory processes. By means of a case study out of the field of clean production the elaborated results help to show the benefits of simulation as a planning tool. With the help of simulation a material flow- and throughput optimized equipment design and therefore required equipment control strategies were ascertained in several iterative runs. The system installation, being in its development stage, was represented realistically in a detailed simulation model. The performance of the system in operation was visualized and then analyzed. Thus, bottlenecks could be localized easily and the equipment design and dimensioning could be reviewed. With the selective simulative examination of different optimization approaches the equipment manufacturer was provided with important data for economical- and investment decisions. The use of simulation technology provides a high planning reliability and helps to avoid planning mistakes already in the stage of system development. This advantages could also be used in future developments in the field of laboratory automation.

Toward high performance parallel experimentation machines. Use of a scheduler as a quantitative computer-aided design tool for evaluating workstation performance

Parallel experimentation machines offer the opportunity to acquire large volumes of scientific data in short periods of time. However, envisioning the performance of the integrated assembly of hardware components (robot, sample handling modules, analytical instruments) is a stubborn and pervasive design problem in the field of laboratory automation. An automated chemistry workstation has been built that consists of discrete hardware modules and is equipped with an experiment manager software package; the latter includes a scheduler for performing parallel experiments. In this paper, the scheduler is used as a computer-aided design (CAD) tool to evaluate the effects of speed enhancements in various hardware modules, including robot translation rate, sample manipulator syringe speed, solvent dispensing with a high-speed pump, and replacing traditional batch methods of sample analysis with flow injection analysis. The proposed hardware alterations are feasible with existing technology. The CAD approach has three elements. First, each alteration is evaluated quantitatively using timing formulae containing variable speed parameters. Second, the overall system performance improvement due to each individual alteration is simulated by scheduling a typical workload of experiments. Third, performance is equated with the number of experiments that can be performed in parallel. The relative importance of the hardware alterations depends on the typical workload of experiments. A workstation that incorporates all alterations exhibits a performance improvement of five to fifteenfold compared with our existing workstation (and over 150-fold compared with serial operation). Such a workstation would be capable of initiating and monitoring > 300 reactions (16 h each) in parallel, a throughput corresponding to ≈ 1700 experiments per week. Application of the scheduler as a CAD tool thus provides a means to predict performance quantitatively. This approach should prove generally useful in laboratory automation and is crucial for guiding the systematic design of high performance parallel experimentation machines.