From laboratory information management systems to automated handling processes, automation technology is helping to save time, reduce costs and enhance traceability. Sean Ottewell reports.
SampleManager 11 from Thermo Scientific is the newest, most configurable version of one of the world's most widely deployed laboratory information management systems (LIMS). It features advanced new tools and user-interface enhancements that improve laboratory process mapping, management and automation.
Labs increasingly face pressure to be more efficient, and manage increased throughput while simultaneously improving data accuracy, analysis and reporting, all in an environment of stricter regulation. SampleManager 11 empowers lab users, putting control in the hands of personnel at the point of decision. Users can now build workflows to reflect their individual laboratory processes, and take ownership of workflow management allowing them to be synchronised with the changing requirements of the lab, all without specialist IT intervention.
"Lab personnel can rely on the LIMS workflow to automate the logical decisions driving their activities, hence improving throughput by saving time and simplifying user interactions. System configuration and deployment is significantly easier - and therefore more valuable - for lab managers and the users they support, giving a lower cost of ownership to the business," says the company.
SampleManager 11 delivers workflow configurability, user-intuitive multiple sample login, point and click extensibility and enhanced data mining and tracking capabilities to benefit a wide variety of industries, including pharmaceutical QA/QC, oil and gas, contract labs, food producers, process industries and others. In each of these sectors, productivity and compliance must be in constant balance, even as requirements shift. Enhanced traceability features in SampleManager 11, including the ability to track aliquots and composites, enable finer control over samples and more reliable data for decision-making and compliance.
More than LIMS
ACD/Labs has announced the commercial availability of ACD/ChemAnalytical Workbook. This new software application on the ACD/Spectrus platform provides an all-in-one experiment, workflow, and data management tool for scientists who use multiple analytical techniques in a problem-solving capacity in industries including coatings, lubricants, fragrances, forensics, petrochemicals, food, and formulated healthcare products.
"ChemAnalytical Workbook was developed as a direct response to customers unable to find what they needed in existing informatics systems such as LIMS and ELNs (enterprise laboratory networks)," noted Michael Boruta, industry solutions manager with ACD/Labs. "Scientists use analytical data to make key decisions about problems in a plant, in the identification of ingredients, deformulation, and much more. ChemAnalytical Workbook links analytical chemistry information with the sample or experiment so that it can be reviewed and re-interrogated to help get answers quickly. Ultimately, faster decision-making will improve productivity and profitability for our customers."
One company that has already benefitted from the technology is Seven Scent, a manufacturer and supplier of customised fragrances.
"Since implementing the ACD/Labs solution we have realised a time savings of over 30 per cent in the manufacturing process," says Alistair Wilding, head of technical services. "The system is tied to our production schedule and integrated with our ERP (enterprise resource planning) system, so reliability was a key factor for us. With dependable software and responsive after-sales support we have been able to implement and maintain a robust and auditable quality management system."
ACD/ChemAnalytical Workbook delivers much of the functionality of the Seven Scent system in a commercial off-the-shelf product, with automation and customisation available to address existing workflows, tracking procedures, and integration with existing informatics systems.
For scientists working with formulated products and complex mixtures, ACD/ChemAnalytical Workbook enables accelerated decision-making, effortless reporting and knowledge transfer through the storage, searching, and re-use of live spectral and chromatographic data with interpretation knowledge.
Meanwhile Shimadzu has released LabSolutions CS, a chromatography data system that is able to control 1100, 1200, 1260, and 1290 series high-performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC) systems manufactured by Agilent.
It follows an earlier agreement between the two companies to mutually exchange instrument control drivers in order to enable the integrated control of analytical instruments from them both.
This new product allows analytical laboratories that use a mix of Shimadzu HPLCs and gas chromatographs (GC) and Agilent HPLCs to perform analysis using unified software. LabSolutions CS integrates the analysis laboratory and office to allow access to analytical instruments, such as HPLCs and GCs, from any computer on the network, and to perform control, analysis monitoring, and data analysis. In addition, the LabSolutions CS database enables central management of all analysis data.
The database features a new multi-data reporting capability, which allows analysis result reports to be easily created in a familiar operating environment without the need for Microsoft Excel. The easy-to-use, high-performance LabSolutions series - in addition to providing integrated instrument control, automating analysis steps, and supporting report creation - achieves data management for a wide range of instruments, says Shimadzu.
Dispensing and screening
BioTek's new MultiFlo FX microplate dispenser offers up to four independent reagent dispensers and a washer in one compact and modular platform to simplify and automate microplate-based liquid handling processes, thus saving time and reducing reagent costs (Fig.1).
According to the company, it is an efficient solution for 6- to 1536-well plates and incorporates Parallel Dispense technologies, which allows a choice of peristaltic or syringe pump dispensing. This choice of dispensing technologies allows reagent conservation and unattended operation down to 500 nL. Additionally, a wash module adds multi-purpose functionality and uses BioTek's patented Dual-Action manifold for independent aspirate/dispense control.
The dispenser has a small footprint for use in a biosafety enclosure or in an automated robotic system. To automate sensitive cell-based assays, MultiFlo FX can also be integrated with the new BioStack4 to handle lidded plates.
The fully configured MultiFlo FX replaces up to five liquid handlers, and the modular architecture means that users only need to purchase the modules required at any particular point - and can upgrade at any time as their assay needs evolve. It is ideal for cell-based assays, bead-based assays, ELISAs, primary and secondary screening, compound storage and much more.
Finally, Integrated Software Solutions, the specialist laboratory management software developer, has announced the latest implementation of its OMNI-Lab Newborn Screening management suite, at GSTS Pathology, the joint venture between Guy's and St Thomas' and King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trusts and Serco in London.
OMNI-Lab software is at the heart of a system that facilitates the safe and efficient management of bloodspots taken by heelprick for screening from approximately 60,000 thousand newborn infants each year in the South East Thames region. The screening either indicates that the infants are not suspected of having any of five serious diseases of infancy, or alerts paediatricians to the need for further testing and/or possible treatment.
Unlike previous customers for OMNI-Lab, who have usually opted for an off-the-peg solution, GSTS decided to get right under the skin of the system and build their own version from scratch.That meant several people learning how to write SQL and first they had to be trained by ISS. Analie Booth, service delivery manager - biochemical sciences, explains: "We've got a system now that's bespoke for us, but which is fully supported by ISS. We've built up the capability in house such that we've got experts on site and don't have to wait for ISS to come up with the solutions to problems for us."
Flexible, automated liquid handling
CyBio's new CyBi-FeliX is a versatile and compact liquid handling platform for single to multichannel pipetting on a footprint of 650 x 450 mm. The novel deck design offers 12 positions for microplates, tube racks, reservoirs and tips. Furthermore there is a wide selection of optional accessories available, such as tip wash station and microplate heating and cooling.
For reliable precision in every volume range users can choose between the interchangeable 96-384-channel pipetting heads and the CHOICE pipetting head with its novel volume range of 500 nl to 1 ml. Along with the parallel processing of whole 96- and 384-well microplates, the CyBi-FeliX also allows users to work in single wells, rows and columns without the need of manual intervention.
CyBio says its latest platform is based on 25 years of liquid handling experience in supporting applications such as filling of plates and tubes, creating reaction set-ups for PCR and sequencing, ELISA, hit picking or pooling of samples and serial dilutions.
The platform can be adjusted at any time to any application requirements through the right combination of pipetting heads and accessories. This, says the company, makes the CyBi-FeliX the ideal platform for a variety of automated liquid handling tasks suitable for every laboratory.
CyBio also has a new 1536-channel pipetting head for the reliable, simultaneous pipetting platform CyBi-Well. The 1536 air displacement pistons work with CyBio's novel and well-proven tip sealing technology and allow the simultaneous transfer and filling of all wells of a 1536-well plate in one single step.
