8th Annual Biologics Formulation Development and Drug Delivery Forum

14-16 June 2017

Berlin, Germany

 

This marcus evans forum will discuss key challenges in biologics development, confronting formulation scientists and assist them with a better experiment protocol to ensure quality processes, efficient methodology and minimise failure risks. The delegates will benefit from experienced case study and understand how to improve formulation stability, preventing aggregation, develop high-concentration forms; they will also learn how to use predictive and analytical methods in order to understand the behaviour and evolution of proteins under different conditions, help scientists characterising proteins and different components of the formulation. They will also apprehend the manufacturing and scale up challenges, looking at compatibility problems, lyophilisation issues, and consider the different possibilities offered for drug delivery, keeping in mind the crucial need for improving comfort and safety to patient.

 

Attending this premier marcus evans conference will enable you to:

• Improve the design of biological formulation with automated and highthroughput solutions


• Integrate QbD processes in biological drug development


• Enhance stability process controlling aggregation


• Improve characterization with efficient analytical tools


• Discuss the regulatory environment around biological drug development


• Address the challenges of scale up, lyophilisation and tech transfer processes


• Exchange on the recent improvement in drug delivery for various biological molecules and vaccines

 

Learn from key practical case studies:

• Janssen on HighThroughput methods for vaccines and protein and use of spectroscopic tools


• Novo Nordisk looking at extractable and leachable risks


• LMU Munich improving safety with new polymer syringes


• GSK sharing challenges in freeze-thaw processes and small-scall design


• Sanofi’s long term stability prediction methods for vaccines formulation

 

 

For more information, please visit the event website: https://goo.gl/1FyxTd

or contact Melini Hadjitheori at melinih@marcusevanscy.com

8th Annual Biologics Formulation Development and Drug Delivery Forum

What are the challenges involved in the IDMP Project Change Management?

An interview with the  Director, Strategy Implementation Leader Biopharma | R&D Strategy and Business Operations, IDMP Project Lead of Merck

Ahead of the 4th Edition IDMP Compliance Challenge: Navigating through uncertainty Conference, we spoke with Dr. Andrea Herrmann MDRA, Director, Strategy Implementation Leader Biopharma | R&D Strategy and Business Operations, IDMP Project Lead at Merck KGaA about how pharma companies can progress with the new regulation.

How can pharma companies progress with the new regulation?
While some pharma companies focusing primary on fulfilling compliance standards, Merck is going one step further and is using the IDMP initiative to “go beyond compliance”.

Using this opportunity, pharma companies can highly benefit from IDMP and drive their internal digitalization; streamlining their processes landscape, data standards and IT architecture – one potential goal can be here the creation and establishment of a master data management system. By replacing manual paperwork with software, companies can use this flexibility to react quicker on updates of compliance requirements from authorities.

In addition, companies will be able to automatically gain information on their internal processes, data quality and managing their causes of risks. This new fact based capabilities can be used to improve patient services, enabled by a granular level of product traceability. Furthermore, business processes can be optimized as the improved data availability and quality can be used to drive initiatives to increase operational efficiency.

What are the challenges involved in the IDMP Project Change Management?

When it comes to the challenges of Change Management, it is important to understand that the IDMP project will impact a broad range of stakeholders along the entire value chain within the upcoming years. Starting with the focus on organizational data and growing over time with focus on product and substance information. In

addition, many details of IDMP are not yet finally decided and therefore not yet communicated and it will be defined by authorities in the

upcoming future. This impacts our ability to gain buy-in from team members and to give commitment to the stakeholders within the organization.

Considering these challenges, we have defined an engagement approach that is changing over time to fulfill the information needs of our stakeholders. The main idea of this approach is to include all project participants (beyond iteration 1) at a very early stage of the project. We are providing them with the progress of the IDMP Project on a frequent basis, even though their full participation will take place in several months in the future. In addition, stakeholders are informed on their expected date of engagement, helping them to prepare accordingly when higher level of attention is required.

Functions with deep project involvement are engaged directly via tailored roadshows. IDMP ambassadors are announced and trained to prepare each function on their upcoming roles and responsibilities to support the implementation of the project.

How would you advice companies to prepare for IDMP as a Long-Term Information Management Project?

Companies planning to implement the IDMP standard within their organization will need to keep up with the momentum over a long period in an evolving environment.

To manage this level of change, it is important to focus on areas that can be controlled by the company itself. In regards to IDMP, companies can focus on Master Data Management (MDM) as a significant milestone to drive the organization beyond compliance. Being able to manage its master data is an important capability that is required for IDMP, as well as for company’s operational requirements to provide additional business benefits. Changes within the organization range here from process changes up to the implementation of new IT systems and data cleansing.

To support stakeholders in the decision process within the project it is essential to build a culture of trust that deals with the evolving arena of IDMP. Associated there with, it is important to clearly communicate to stakeholders those decisions and definitions can change over time, as new information from authorities and updates of decisions are part of the project. The aimed business benefits of the project can be used as a beacon to give stakeholders orientation within their decision processes to define new processes, data standards, or adaption in their IT systems.

Furthermore, the early implementation of an “IDMP Office” is essential to manage the governance and maintenance of the IDMP Master Data. The office should be

designed as a network of IDMP Officers from several functions, who can support the organization as a single point of contact for IDMP related questions. Feedback initiated by authorities after submission can also be bundled and monitored by the IDMP Office, ensuring that these changes are sustainably implemented within the company.

Another point that should be mentioned deals with the preparation of the organization for new requirements. As insights in processes, medicinal products, organizational data, and substances will grow over time, the ability to interpret this insight will become more and more important. Training or hiring of Data Managers with analytical capabilities will therefore be essential to use the newly available insights provided by IDMP, or combine

them with other data available within the company.

Last but not least, companies should focus on a scalable IT landscape that is able to grow with the IDMP standard over time and can also be leveraged with additional initiatives required for authorities outside of Europe.

What would you like to achieve by attending the 4th Edition Impact of the Fundamental Review of the Trading Book Conference?

One of my major goals is to get in touch with industry representatives, in order to share my so far gained experience of the IDMP project at Merck. In addition, I am very curious how other professionals have engaged the IDMP project within their company and how they organized the project to keep up the momentum, staying flexible to react on upcoming changes from authorities.

Dr. Andrea Herrmann/Merck

About the speaker:

Andrea studied pharmacy in Heidelberg. After University, she started to work at Pharmalex in 2002 as a contractor for Merck KGaA and then in 2003 joined Merck KGaA holding different positions within Global Regulatory Affairs (GRA) (mainly in Regulatory International and some time in Regulatory Oncology).

While working at Merck, she first did her Master of Drug Regulatory Affairs at DGRA (“Deutsche Gesellschaft für Drug Regulatory Affairs”) in Bonn and afterwards she did her doctor of science at the University of Bonn in the field “Regulatory Affairs”.

Besides the science based trainings she attended over several years different coaching trainings and did a 2 years coaching education.

Within GRA, she held different positions, she was within Regulatory International responsible for the dossier updates for the new EU member states in 2004 and in 2007, responsible for all regulatory activities in Russia &CIS and South Eastern Europe, and then she took the lead to build up regulatory strategy for international countries for late stage and early stage oncology products. She has experience in registration of chemical and biological products worldwide. She also worked as a team lead and group head for coordinating and guidance of all regulatory activities for certain international regions. As a marketed product leader she was the strategic pillar for all regulatory activities for fertility products worldwide. Since April 2016 she is leading the IDMP project as Strategic Implementation Leader within Strategy and Business Operations.

About the Conference:

This marcus evans conference will focus on IDMP compliance preparations benchmarking and knowledge-sharing for the phased approach deadlines in the context uncertainty and expectations for the final guidelines. The 4th Edition IDMP Compliance Challenge: Navigating through uncertainty Conference will take place from the 27th until the 29th of March 2017 in London, UK.

For more information, contact:

Yiota Andreou

yiotaa@marcusevanscy.com

What are the challenges involved in the IDMP Project Change Management?

iVention

MORE THAN LIMS WITH LES

iVENTION LAB EXECUTION SYSTEM

 

iVention provides tightly integrated, state of the art Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS), Electronic Laboratory Notebooks (ELN), Scientific Data Management Software (SDMS) and Collaboration solutions to customers across multiple industries. Underlying each of iVention’s solution is the powerful, flexible iLES – iVention Lab Execution System, a web-based, scalable and extensible informatics platform. iLES requires no client software installation and is available as hosted or installed solution that can be configured to meet customers’ needs without custom coding. 

iVention

Collaborative Robotics in practise Thursday, June 15th 2017

Continuing Education

Collaborative Robotics in practise

Thursday, June 15th 2017, 8.30-16.30 o’clock

HSR Hochschule für Technik Rapperswil

content:

• Types of Human-Robot-Collaboration


• application possibilities of collaborative robotics in the production


• security with collaborative robots


• practical examples


• first experiences with collaborative robots

target group:

technical employees, engineers and executives in the field of production and manufacturing

course instructor:

• Prof. Dr. Agathe Koller, director ILT Institute for Lab Automation and Mechatronics


• Manuel Altmeyer, business unit manager industrial automation ILT

Costs:

700 CHF incl. course material and lunch

contact:

Prof. Dr. Agathe Koller, agathe.koller(at)hsr.ch 0041 55 222 49 29

Registration:

Until May 20th 2017 to doris.waldburger(at)hsr.ch

Collaborative Robotics in practise Thursday, June 15th 2017

It is the time again, Swiss Symposium on Lab Automation 2017

ILT, the Institute for Lab Automation and Mechatronics is here again. This year with insights into microfluidics and Liquid Handling Automation.

The 7th Swiss Symposium on Lab Automation will take place on Thursday, March 16th 2017 at the Hochschule für Technik Rapperswil.

Please note that all presentations are held in German. The information on the Symposium you find here in German language.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact: labsymposium(at)hsr.ch

It is the time again, Swiss Symposium on Lab Automation 2017

Boehringer Ingelheim Layoffs

Boehringer Ingelheim is close to batting 1,000—as in the number of U.S. jobs eliminated during 2016.

The company on December 1 confirmed it had cut 244 additional U.S. jobs, five months after axing 725 U.S. positions. Nearly one-quarter of the total job cuts, 230, were positions based at Boehringer Ingelheim’s U.S. headquarters in Ridgefield, CT.

Among the latest layoffs, Boehringer eliminated 120 Ridgefield-based positions at its Small Molecule Discovery Research unit. The company is consolidating small-molecule research in Vienna and Biberach, Germany, while shutting units in Ridgefield and Milan, Italy.

Boehringer Ingelheim signaled its intent to get leaner in November 2015, saying it would spend E11 billion ($11.69 billion) on R&D through 2020. The figure includes €5 billion ($5.3 billion) to be assigned to preclinical R&D, and €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) to be spent on external R&D partnerships—which already account for about half the programs in the early and middle stages of the company’s pipeline. The E11 billion averages E2.2 billion ($2.34 billion) a year, down from E3.004 billion ($3.19 billion) spent in 2015—reversing a year-over-year 13% R&D increase from E2.654 billion ($2.82 billion) in 2014.

“A key element of the new strategy is an increased focus on collaborations with external partners, while maintaining strong internal R&D capabilities,” Boehringer said back then.

The company insisted the latest job cuts will allow it to boost R&D in oncology, saying a new Ridgefield-based cancer immunology discovery research group will begin in 2017. “This new group will result in approximately 35 new positions in Connecticut,” Boehringer Ingelheim said in a statement.

• 
  
  
  

  Discovery & Development: Robots Have Feelings, Too

  
  

  
  
  
  
  

  AstraZeneca is deploying a drug discovery robot that can safely share its workspace with scientists, so that it needn’t be sequestered behind glass walls. The robot, built by HighRes Biosolutions, is designed to be both collaborative and configurable.

  
  

  Sensitive and responsive to the presence of scientists, the NiCoLA-B drug discovery robot safely occupies a shared workspace, swinging into action while sparing its human collaborators any roundhouse blows. Unlike most robots, NiCoLA-B can slow or even stop if it detects a change in its operating environment or if it encounters even the slightest resistance.
  

  
  

  Built by HighRes Biosolutions and recently deployed by AstraZeneca, the motion- and load-sensing NiCoLA-B can test up to 300,000 compounds a day. (Operating at this rate, AstraZeneca’s robots will test 40 million chemicals each year.) NicCoLA-B uses sound waves, not pipettes, to move potential drugs, droplet by droplet, from storage tubes to individual wells on assay plates. Then, it adds droplets of cells or biochemical solutions. Finally, it oversees the interactions between the contents of the wells, checking for activity that might indicate a promising new drug.
  

  
  

  As a drug discovery robot, NiCoLA-B illustrates a remarkable phenomenon: Drug discovery applications account for the largest share of the global lab automation market. This phenomenon was noted by Research and Markets, which attributed the size of drug discovery segment to the need for high-throughput screening and reduced time-to-market in biotech and pharma. Research and Markets estimates that the global lab automation market, currently worth $3.92 billion, will reach $5.48 billion by 2021.
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  Genomics & Proteomics: Charles River Goes “All In” on Genome Editing

  
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

  CRL has developed significant global partnerships over the years with key groups for in vivo model creation services, which should allow for a smooth transition into the genome-editing arena.
  

  
  

  “Utilizing the CRISPR-Cas9 platform, Charles River clients can work with a single provider for both the in vivo and in vitro phases of their research,” Dr. Morse noted. “Working with us, clients can generate custom cell lines for early, exploratory discovery research, as well as generate in vivo pharmacology models, produce those models, and then use our Discovery Services offering to place those models in in vivo studies.”
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  Bioprocessing: Synthetic Promoters Promise to Boost Mammalian Cell Platform’s Yields

  
  

  Synpromics agreed to collaborate with Sartorius Stedim Cellca to evaluate and test its customized synthetic promoters with Sartorius’ mammalian production cell platform.
  

  
  

  “Synthetic promoters are DNA sequences that do not exist in nature,” explained David Venables, Ph.D., CEO, Synpromics, “and which are designed to regulate the activity of genes, controlling a gene’s ability to produce its own uniquely encoded protein.
  

  
  

  “Our synthetic promoter technology has been developed to increase the yields of recombinant proteins produced by these stable cell lines which has a benefit in cost of goods reduction for biopharmaceuticals,” Venables told GEN.
  

  
  

  Cellca has developed the Cellca CHO Expression Platform for the production of biologicals using CHO cells consisting of a proprietary cell line, growth medium, expression cassettes, and fed-batch process. The company said they have developed a panel of CHO-specific synthetic promoters, using their PromPT™ platform, designed and selected for optimized expression of recombinant proteins.
  

  
  

  “The majority of recombinant proteins, including monoclonal antibodies, are produced using the CHO system,” Venables said. “We believe that the combination of Cellca’s CHO bioprocessing platform with Synpromics’ synthetic promoters will provide a much more efficient production system. We’re aiming for significantly higher levels of product being achieved which will increase capacity while reducing production costs.”
  

  
  

  “We are delighted to be working with Synpromics on this exciting project,” added Christoph Zehe, Ph.D., head of technology development at Cellca. We believe it will offer significant benefit to our clients in being able to provide a superior production system for biological products.”
  

  
  

  Separately, Sartorius Stedim Cellca announced that the company purchased property of more than 6,000 square meters at Ulm’s Science Park III at Eselsberg to build a laboratory and office complex. The new facility, which will approximately double the company’s space, is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2019. So far, Sartorius Stedim Cellca has been located in a rented building in Laupheim.
  

  
  

  “Our new site’s proximity to universities and research institutes in Ulm’s Scientific Park offers an excellent environment to promote our growing business for which we are also seeking additional highly qualified staff,” said Hugo de Wit, managing director.
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  Molecular Diagnostics: Good Start Genetics Ends 2016 with Two Big Marketing Deals

  
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

  Good Start Genetics is making good on its pledge to democratize genetic testing. Two deals finalized late last year show the company’s commitment to making genetic testing more accessible.
  

  
  

  First, in November the company inked a deal with Amazon, which will carry its VeriYou carrier screening test for cystic fibrosis and spinal muscular atrophy. It is anticipated that the convenience of Amazon and the price point ($149) will increase awareness and adoption of carrier screening.
  

  
  

  “We think the main barriers to access and awareness are affordability and reach. Given our cost advantages in sequencing and breadth of reach, we are able to reach more of the 62 million women who should be offered screening for cystic fibrosis and spinal muscular atrophy,” Jeffrey R. Luber, president and CEO of Good Start Genetics, explained to GEN.
  

  
  

  Then, in December, Roche Diagnostics agreed to offer Good Start Genetics’ GeneVu carrier screening test service in conjunction with its Harmony™ noninvasive prenatal test service to obstetricians and general practitioners providing care to pregnant women.
  

  
  

  Luber summed up Good Start Genetics’ efforts by explaining “There is broad opportunity to couple genetic sequencing technologies and clinical expertise to provide health information to families. There are many genetic disorders for which early detection and intervention can have broad positive impact on individual outcomes while yielding societal savings. We believe testing for these disorders can be offered widely through low cost, high-quality testing like ours and unique business models that give families and physicians greater access to genetic information of importance to family health.”
  

  
  
  
  

Boehringer Ingelheim Layoffs

Low Cost, Reliable Automated Temperature Monitoring Provided for London Laboratory

Test equipment specialist Testo Ltd. (UK) has supplied its latest temperature and humidity data logging system, Saveris 2, to Stansted Laboratories’ facility in Barking, East London.

Stansted Laboratories is a highly successful UKAS accredited laboratory of 20 staff analysing over 50,000 samples a year in a purpose built facility.  It specialises in microbiological analysis of water and air, with its main income derived from Legionella testing of water and drinking water bacteriological analysis.

Maintaining precise temperatures within its devices – incubators, fridges, freezers and water baths – and cold room is essential to ensure accuracy and for compliance with UKAS’ stringent requirements, as is maintaining a detailed record.  Stansted Laboratories had been monitoring and recording equipment temperatures manually, but as the company grew this became a time consuming, labour intensive activity.

Following a site visit, Testo recommended its Saveris 2 system, a highly cost-effective, flexible temperature and humidity data logging solution specifically for small to medium sized applications, which still provides the accuracy and reliability of its larger ‘parent’ system, Saveris 1.

15 Saveris 2 wireless temperature data loggers are now in use at Stansted Laboratories.  The majority of the loggers are T2 which are being used to monitor temperatures in fridges, fridge freezers and incubators from -25°C to + 50°C, with T3 loggers with specialist flexible probes used for the 50°C water baths and a T1 logger with internal NTC temperature sensor in the cold room.  The T2 data loggers are being used with a Testo Penetration probe NTC with ribbon cable (2 metre length) which is exceptionally flat allowing it to be pushed through narrow openings, such as the door seal of the fridges and incubators without impacting the performance of those units.

The measured temperature values from all the data loggers are automatically recorded by the Saveris 2 system and sent directly over a wireless LAN to the Testo cloud (online storage), requiring no manual intervention.  The information is formatted into an easy to read graphic based report for each data logger and available as a pdf or csv file which can be emailed daily, weekly or monthly.  Stansted Laboratories has opted for a daily report.  Furthermore, authorised personnel can access data logger information at any time and from any location with an internet-enabled smartphone, tablet or PC, for maximum convenience.

For Stansted Laboratories, a key benefit of the Saveris 2 system is the automation.  Anu Tavarasa, Laboratory Manager explains: “we were doing the readings manually, which took us half hour in the morning and another half hour in the afternoon.  We wanted to automate this to save time.  We tried several data loggers but they didn’t work for us as they were taking a long time to download.  The Testo system is very fast.  Not only has it freed up an hour every day for us to do analysis, but it’s very user friendly.  I like the way we can look at the data online whenever we want; we do this regularly – three times a day at least.  The alerts are also very useful, which come direct to the lab.”  Saveris 2 provides free email alerts, plus up to 25 free SMS alerts a year (per logger), with alert parameters configured by the customer.

Whilst accuracy is clearly essential, for Stansted Laboratories the ease of use and flexibility of Saveris 2 has been a winning combination.  The entire system is automated, needs no maintenance except for yearly recalibration (as standard with all test and measurement equipment), staff do not require training, and is both easily expandable and simple to install; so much so that when Stansted Laboratories recently expanded into adjacent premises, staff simply picked up the data loggers and moved them with the equipment without any need for Testo’s assistance.

For more information contact: Testo Ltd – tel no 01420 544433

Email – info@testo.co.uk

www.testolimited.com.

Low Cost, Reliable Automated Temperature Monitoring Provided for London Laboratory

New Gadget: Thync Mood-Altering Headset Demo

Thync is launching its mood-altering headset today, letting you find a state of calm or boost your energy with controls on your smartphone. Thync’s gadget is more of a module than a headset. It’s small, plastic, and contains a Bluetooth radio for connecting to your phone. You attach it to a disposable adhesive strip, which you apply to your temple and neck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KwK5ZGdQAk

Pellentesque venenatis mollis dignissim. Morbi et fringilla dui, at euismod metus. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Sed mollis orci nibh, nec dapibus ipsum vestibulum ac. Donec ultricies turpis at eros blandit sollicitudin. Fusce ultrices odio nec pellentesque feugiat.

Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Vestibulum vitae tempus odio, vitae varius velit. Nunc placerat turpis a neque vehicula, ac commodo augue semper. Mauris convallis arcu dui, quis placerat libero venenatis nec. Phasellus efficitur a neque vitae efficitur. Phasellus vel enim leo. Nunc nec vehicula elit, ut lacinia magna.

New Gadget: Thync Mood-Altering Headset Demo

Latest from Apple: Apple Watch Review

The Apple Watch is now on the wrists of members of the general public for the first time, and opinions about its usefulness are flying fast and furious. Here at TechCrunch, we’ve been sharing our thoughts in an ongoing diary, featuring daily entries describing what it’s like to use the Watch as we become more familiar with the new gadget.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHdVkPrdRYg

Latest from Apple: Apple Watch Review

Slack Integrates With Google Calendar To Add Events To Channels

Slack, the popular office communication tool, will now integrate with Google Calendar, letting events automatically post reminders inside slack channels.

After linking a Google account to Slack, you can choose any calendar and instruct it to post to certain Slack channels. For example, you could have events from your company’s development deadline calendar post reminders to the #dev channel two days before a product deadline.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed at leo in enim sodales dictum sed at lacus. Phasellus mi urna, mattis sed metus non, ullamcorper dictum nibh. Nunc venenatis erat ipsum, dignissim posuere metus accumsan a. Nullam ornare iaculis odio id vestibulum. Praesent blandit turpis iaculis, aliquam magna a, malesuada magna. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec hendrerit libero ex, vel sollicitudin lacus suscipit a. Morbi quis mi mollis, ultricies odio et, feugiat nisi. Suspendisse condimentum risus a mauris varius imperdiet ut sed augue. Aliquam ut tortor gravida, ultricies est sed, placerat erat. Cras lacus nisi, convallis nec metus vitae, commodo aliquam neque. Nam viverra ex mi, nec fermentum ante dictum et. Donec eget mi sed neque fermentum feugiat vitae nec enim. Curabitur in mollis turpis. Ut nec pharetra nisi, vitae egestas elit.

Pellentesque venenatis mollis dignissim. Morbi et fringilla dui, at euismod metus. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Sed mollis orci nibh, nec dapibus ipsum vestibulum ac. Donec ultricies turpis at eros blandit sollicitudin. Fusce ultrices odio nec pellentesque feugiat. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Vestibulum vitae tempus odio, vitae varius velit. Nunc placerat turpis a neque vehicula, ac commodo augue semper. Mauris convallis arcu dui, quis placerat libero venenatis nec. Phasellus efficitur a neque vitae efficitur. Phasellus vel enim leo. Nunc nec vehicula elit, ut lacinia magna.

Slack Integrates With Google Calendar To Add Events To Channels

YouTube’s New App Plays To Creators

Yes, we love videos of cats falling, but YouTube’s content creator network has blown up over the past few years. There’s some really great content being created by budding superstars.

coughPewDiePiecough.

Today, the company released a new version of its app (Android first, and iOS soon) that helps feed content from those superstars to their fans. The app now has a new subscription tab where you can track all of the latest and greatest from your favorite stars in one place:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed at leo in enim sodales dictum sed at lacus. Phasellus mi urna, mattis sed metus non, ullamcorper dictum nibh. Nunc venenatis erat ipsum, dignissim posuere metus accumsan a. Nullam ornare iaculis odio id vestibulum. Praesent blandit turpis iaculis, aliquam magna a, malesuada magna. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec hendrerit libero ex, vel sollicitudin lacus suscipit a. Morbi quis mi mollis, ultricies odio et, feugiat nisi. Suspendisse condimentum risus a mauris varius imperdiet ut sed augue. Aliquam ut tortor gravida, ultricies est sed, placerat erat. Cras lacus nisi, convallis nec metus vitae, commodo aliquam neque. Nam viverra ex mi, nec fermentum ante dictum et. Donec eget mi sed neque fermentum feugiat vitae nec enim. Curabitur in mollis turpis. Ut nec pharetra nisi, vitae egestas elit.

Pellentesque venenatis mollis dignissim. Morbi et fringilla dui, at euismod metus. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Sed mollis orci nibh, nec dapibus ipsum vestibulum ac. Donec ultricies turpis at eros blandit sollicitudin. Fusce ultrices odio nec pellentesque feugiat. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Vestibulum vitae tempus odio, vitae varius velit. Nunc placerat turpis a neque vehicula, ac commodo augue semper. Mauris convallis arcu dui, quis placerat libero venenatis nec. Phasellus efficitur a neque vitae efficitur. Phasellus vel enim leo. Nunc nec vehicula elit, ut lacinia magna.

YouTube’s New App Plays To Creators

Subscribe to Informatics Agilent, Transcriptic Collaborate on Laboratory Automation

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Agilent Technologies announced today that it will partner with Bay Area lab automation firm Transcriptic to add several Agilent Genomics product lines for mutagenesis and cloning to the protocol library within the Transcriptic robotic cloud laboratory, including QuikChange site-directed mutagenesis kits.

The Transcriptic platform allows for remote, web-based control of life science research, enabling researchers to scale up experiments and reduce human error. The firm is building robotically-driven “workcells” — self-contained boxes filled with automated molecular biology laboratory equipment. Transcriptic has previously partnered with CRISPR design software firm Desktop Genetics to make guide RNA libraries for large-scale screening experiments.

In a statement, Transcriptic COO Yvonne Linney said that Agilent’s QuikChange kits carried a reputation for reliability and ease-of-use, and that the deal will allow researchers to use many mutants to produce large data sets for exploring protein function.

Financial and other terms of the collaboration were not disclosed.

 

Thanks to genomeweb.com

 

 

Subscribe to Informatics Agilent, Transcriptic Collaborate on Laboratory Automation

Keeping up with sample preparation

Located in the heart of the Greater Toronto, Canada, Questron Technologies has been providing high-end sample preparation equipment for metal analysis to analytical laboratories for over 20 years. In the early 1990’s Questron was the first to introduce computer controlled temperature and pressure microwave digestion systems. Continuing our tradition, in 2005 we were the first to introduce the concept of all plastic robotics for laboratories, in the form of automated digestion systems. Our line of products are tailored to specifically provide analytical laboratories with a total solution for sample preparation needs. Our sample prep product range includes:

• 
  QBlock Wireless Manual Block Digestion system


• 
  Vulcan Automated Digestion and Work-up Station


• QLab Pro Microwave Digestion System


• 
  QPrep Automated Dispensing and Dilution Station


• 
  QAsh 1800 Microwave Ashing System

Questron is always in touch with users and welcome feedback from industry. In fact this is the key driving factor for new developments and broadening our range of offering. Our group of highly qualified engineers and application specialists make Questron a successful team. We collaborate with renowned universities and industries in proving our new concepts. The result of this approach is our cost-effective QBlock Wireless Digestion system wherein users can control up to eight digestion blocks simultaneously.

As higher throughput becomes more and more of a necessity with stricter regulations being implemented by regulatory agencies, Questron has developed and implemented automated digestion and work-up stations; Vulcan. Combining our QBlock design with a robust all-plastic hood and working robotic arm, users can safely dispense harsh concentrated acids and heat samples. Harmful vapours generated during digestion are easily removed. Stubborn and time consuming work-ups can also be performed directly within Vulcan, no need for unnecessary pipetting and diluting.

Microwave digestion has becomes a staple in the field of sample prep for many labs across the world. Questron strives to provide customers with the most reliable, efficient and safest means for this process, through our line of QLab Pro microwave digestion systems.

Questron’s vast distribution network has allowed labs worldwide to experience and incorporate our systems into their daily workflow routines, saving them time and money. Most importantly our products provide a safe alternative to traditionally harsh work environments, being recently internationally recognised as a winner for lab safety with our Vulcan line of systems.

Adaptability to meet industry demand is our moto when it comes to customer satisfaction. We provide customisation for all our products in order to accommodate the special needs of customers and provide unique solutions. Custom size blocks to accommodate odd vial sizes and lab automation for difficult situations is something our customers love about us.

We would like to hear from you. You can reach us by visiting our website, or contact us by phone at 1-844-363-1223 or email.

https://youtu.be/7-L2KuEOP8s

 

See more at: https://www.labmate-online.com

Keeping up with sample preparation

From Excel spreadsheets to automation and robots: One biotech company"s journey of IT discovery

Horizon Discovery has just embarked on a massive overhaul of the IT estate underpinning its commercial operations. Now, it plans to do the same for the science side of its business.

Robots could be helping out Horizon Discovery’s scientists with their lab work in future.Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto

It’s no secret that organisations across the world are generating more data than ever before. But for those in the genomics field, the data challenge is not only bigger than ever, it may be bigger than anyone else’s: it’s thought that in the coming years, the field will generate more data than any other industry.

For Juergen Harter, not only is his organisation characterised by huge volumes of data, until recently it was also characterised by Excel spreadsheets used to store vital business data.

Harter is the VP of information systems at Horizon Discovery, a biotech company based in the English city of Cambridge, which also has sites in the US and in the Austrian capital of Vienna. The company provides services from gene editing to modelling, to support the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies in drug development.

As well as providing IT services for scientists working on cell biology, Harter also has to support a traditional salesforce and other support staff that were, until recently, using Excel as a repository for customer data.

Following the purchase of several biotech companies between 2014 and 2015, the company found itself not only having to integrate those acquisitions, but also the legacy business software systems that each brought with them. As a result, the company embarked on a program of consolidating its CRM, ERP, and productivity platforms.

All of the different Microsoft Exchange systems and email domains were consolidated, the Excel spreadsheets were replaced by Dynamics, and Skype for Business was brought in for unified comms.

“We decided to go with a Microsoft E3 site-wide license and then push every user into Office 365 because that allows everybody to be on one email system and have all the Office applications running in one unified way. That more or less allowed us to put everything together to form the Horizon Group,” Harter said.

While the Dynamics CRM is in the cloud, the AX ERP remains on-premises, though over time the latter is likely to be moved to a hosted option as well.

If you’ve got some programming or scripting experience, this course will teach you the techniques used by real data scientists in the tech industry – and prepare you for a move into this hot career path. This comprehensive course includes 68 lectures spanning almost 9 hours of video, and most topics include hands-on Python code examples you can use for reference and for practice.

“If this was day one on the two-year AX deployment, I might go more toward that cloud release, but two years ago, we decided on-prem was the right route for that part. Last year, we started the CRM deployment. It took about a year and we had to unify five different old legacy CRM systems for that, but I thought it was mature enough for the cloud,” Harter said.

While the commercial side of the business is now largely standardised on Microsoft underpinnings, the scientific side is a different story: though the former may have been fragmented across different versions of Redmond’s products, the latter is fragmented across tens of platforms, both homegrown and bought-in, proprietary and open source, cloud and on-premises.

According to an analysis carried out by Harter’s team a couple of years ago, there were between 100 and 200 separate software platforms used by researchers, from something used by what the IT chief describes as “just 10 scientists running locally on some desktops”, to more complex gene-editing platforms running off AWS.

The situation is unlikely to remain that way for long: Harter expects a second software unification push on the scientific side of the business to be on the agenda soon.

Looking at the software fragmentation on the commercial side of the business, “the answer there was easy — we knew we had to consolidate, we knew the benefits we would get because the entire salesforce will be able to have the whole dialogue with the client stored in the CRM, be able to access it remotely, you name it — it was easy and clear the path you take there. On the scientific side, things are less clear because you can go in so many different directions depending on the business model you’re driving and a lot of these applications produce an awful lot of data,” said Harter.

When it comes to genomics and biotech, an awful lot of data means volumes that most companies may find unimaginable, or at least unmanageable.

“Over the last couple of years, we have got more and more databases showing up and generally we understand the knowledge-mapping much better, and where data comes from and metadata on it. The volume and has grown and grown. That’s in line with all the trends you’d see elsewhere, but with biotech and genomics, it’s even more exacerbated. The rate of data growth is far, far higher,” Harter said.

Taming that data so clients and in-house researchers can make the most of it is also a priority for Harter, and Horizon Discovery’s central IT teams will be focused on improved advanced enterprise search, to help customers find the data they need when they need it, and researchers to find patterns within all the information they’ve gathered.

“If people are searching for cell lines on the Horizon website and, say, they work on Alzheimer’s and need to know which genes are implicated, we use bioinformatics underneath — we are in the process of utilising ontologies like disease ontologies to help optimise the search query so we deliver the right genes and guide their search efforts far better. We’re trying to exploit our wealth of scientific data in the databases around Horizon to learn from what we already know about the cell,” Harter added.

The joint challenge of both a growing volume of data and an increasing need to be able to query it effectively mean that Horizon Discovery’s team are looking at new ways to store and share its datasets.

In tandem with working out how to scale its on premise storage, Horizon Discovery’s infrastructure staff are looking at what data can be moved to the cloud, and how data stored there can be more easily shared with clients. For the move “from cloud to cloud or via APIs upload or portals, we’ve looked at all those different technologies. It’s grown a long way from someone sends an attachment around or whatever,” according to Harter.

Further off, Horizon Discovery is looking at what more advanced technologies it could bring to bear in the fight against cancer and the drive towards precision medicine. The company is already looking towards artificial intelligence and machine learning, as well as robotics.

“On the scientific side, we are keen to introduce far more automation, and ultimately more down the road robotics for lab automation. […] There will be more software needed to handle any data that comes off machines and robots down the line. That area is growing and growing,” Harter said.

 

Source: http://www.zdnet.com/

From Excel spreadsheets to automation and robots: One biotech company"s journey of IT discovery

Basel Life Science Week 2016: A “flurry of scientific intellect”

The annual Basel Life Science Week (BLSW) in Switzerland was host to many organisations and individuals all interested in various sectors of science, ranging from precession medicine to synthetic biology, but a common theme was apparent throughout: innovation. Benchmark achievements and breakthroughs were defined by the various attendees in different terms, but how these advancements are executed was a recurring theme. It was clear from the workshops and exhibitions that accelerating science to keep up with the future pace of R&D was paramount to all.

 

The question that I see most, is how vendors like IDBS would help to manage R&D and transform lab operations; however, the question that needs to be answered first is what are you trying to do with your business and what sort of business models are relevant to you? There is a great desire to employ the latest technologies, in order to enhance collaboration with other scientists, but the question still remains: is technology the ‘silver bullet’?

I was lucky enough to be invited to speak, and my presentation focused appropriately on the ‘Lab of the Future’ (LotF) and the role that technology would play within it.  To begin with, LotF is not about finding a use for new technology. It is about driving best practices in data management and transforming the laboratory along with the rapid pace of change, all while embracing innovation and the needs of the End User.

Today’s LotF themes have different connotations to different business units, making it impossible to place a universal definition of what that lab might look like.  Every organisation will have different business drivers, including the existing technological infrastructure, processes employed and the scientists themselves, which should all be considered when determining your ‘Lab of the Future’ strategy.

We see three trending strategies common to all our customers in this regard: Automation, Collaboration and Ergonomics.

 

It is amazing to see the impact the consumer market, Internet of Things and advances in smart technology have in shaping our expectations around improving laboratory operations.

Automation

This usually leads to automation and looking at your processes, which automation by definition is meant to improve.  One thing that strikes me, is how often people focus on automating existing practises – what I call ‘automating the past’ – rather than starting with a bottom-up review of current processes.

Start with questions; are current processes holding you back, are you leveraging informatics platforms to streamline processes? To properly apply the benefits of automation requires a deeper understanding of business processes, a review of the interaction between groups and a better picture of how the data flows and is reported in order to eliminate manual steps.

This practice of determining the ‘As-is’ and ‘To-be’ processes help to identify and rank opportunities for improvement as well as quantify project ROI is beneficial to all.

Collaboration

Collaboration and outsourcing is nothing new in the life sciences field, and underpins the business drivers listed above.

Operational and infrastructure costs can be reduced, but for some, it is about efficiency and increasing the speed at which new developments can be brought to market.  Innovation as we all know is fostered through increased collaboration, but this usually comes with its own set of challenges.

How do you link data to data and people to people across the firewall?

You want to reap the benefits of automation without taking a step backwards, but outside the firewall means extra logistics and integration challenges – particularly the sharing of secure data in a timely manner, protection of IP and ensuring quality of data and integration of systems. That said, paper lab processes are not risk free.

Notebooks can be lost, stolen or even illegible. In order to maximise the benefits of collaboration, you need a balance of openness and protection that allows for conversations to happen in real time. It is important to find a solution that does this and introduces elements from the consumer world and social media norms such as comments, activity feeds and ways to have conversation in real time – and I do not mean email!

Ergonomics

Ergonomics in the lab environment is, again, a subject that has been widely discussed. While this has traditionally focused on the physical set up of the lab, the proliferation of mobile devices has had a significant impact on the work of scientists in the lab. But mobile devices in and of themselves are not necessarily the answer: the key is to give access to the interface best suited to the job.

Science is developed by scientists and technology can enable these discoveries from breakthrough to implementation. Ultimately, vendors need to provide the technology that allows customers to leverage their capabilities to manage their LotF strategy.

BLSW was a flurry of scientific intellect and I’m looking forward to seeing what developments, ideas and breakthroughs will feature next year.

 

J.T. Kaminski has been with IDBS since 2008 leading the U.S. North East’s services teams until 2015, where he transitioned to his current role asDirector of Technology Services EMEA, providing transformational business services through successful project implementations and change management.

 

Source: http://www.drugtargetreview.com/

Basel Life Science Week 2016: A “flurry of scientific intellect”

Lab Automation & Robotics, 8-9 November 2016, Berlin, Germany

Following last year’s successful event in Hannover, we move to Berlin for 2016.  SELECTBIO’s 6^th annual Lab Automation & Robotics is an industry forum where lab professionals and engineers can share best practice and innovations in this fast moving field.

 

Agenda Topics:

• Applications of Automation and Robotics in:
  
  • Analytical Laboratories
  
  
  • Biobanking & Biorepositories
  
  
  • Genomics Research
  
  


• Case Studies


• Control Software and Standards


• Novel Hardware and Components

You can present your research on a poster while attending the meeting. Poster submission deadline:14 October 2016.

Visit the website for up-to-date information, including agenda, and our 3 for 2 offer on registrations!

http://ow.ly/iT3P301wEca

 

Keynote Speakers

Malcolm Crook Director, Peak Analysis & Automation Ltd

Niklaus Graber President , SiLA

Lab Automation & Robotics, 8-9 November 2016, Berlin, Germany

This startup is selling $1 million plates of made-to-order, custom-built DNA to companies like Microsoft

In San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood, a 20-minute streetcar ride away from Google’s city offices, lies hidden a DNA factory.

That’s not an embellishment: Twist Bioscience, a venture-funded startup with investors including Russian billionaire Yuri Milner and Dr. Boris Nikolic, science advisor to Bill Gates, is writing millions of dollars worth of made-to-order synthesized DNA to silicon slabs, just a few inches in surface area.

The custom DNA market has been around for decades. But now, it’s poised to explode, as drugmakers and biology labs across the world turn to bespoke DNA samples to explore gene therapy and create new vaccines.

Now, there’s even more demand for custom DNA than ever before, as companies like Microsoft start to explore the possibilities of using DNA as a kind of super-intense hard drive to store lots of data even in the event of global apocalypse. In fact, Microsoft bought 10,000 strands of custom DNA from Twist earlier in 2016.

Twist Bioscience founders, left to right: Emily Leproust, Bill Banyai, Bill Peck

Twist CEO Emily Leproust, PhD, is very careful to say that while Twist didn’t invent the process of writing custom DNA, they’re applying a Silicon Valley mindset to making the process cheaper, easier, and more flexible than ever before.

“We are an engineering company, not a chemistry company,” saysLeproust.

(Oh, and in case you’re concerned, the DNA printed by Twist isn’t really “alive” by any measure. It’s just immensely tiny protein molecules.)

DNA machine

The key to the whole affair lies in a machine that’s so proprietary and important to Twist, I wasn’t allowed to take pictures and the company doesn’t publish any on the web.

Laboratories have been using machines synthesizing custom DNA since the early 1970’s. But the process has historically been time-consuming, slow, and prone to errors: It’s hard for say, Microsoft, to try a new experiment when you need to wait “weeks and weeks and maybe even months” for your custom DNA to arrive, Leproust says.

Twist’s top-secret solution automates much of the process with a machine that looks a little like the the inkjet printer you may have at your office. Little “ink” tanks hold the raw DNA bases that they can put into sequence, per the customers’ order.

Zoomed into Twist Bioscience’s 10,000-well silicon plate. Each well has a 600 um diameter dimension.Zoomed into Twist Bioscience’s 10,000-well silicon plate. Each well has a 600 um diameter dimension.

As the nozzle passes over a wafer of silicon, the same heat-tolerant mineral used for computer processors, it deposits 10,000 “blisters” of DNA bases every 21 minutes or so. Once the DNA is written to the wafer, it goes upstairs to a different laboratory for final processing and preservation, turning those “blisters” into deeper and more resilient “wells,” so it can be shipped out.

It’s like Kinko’s, but each print costs $1 million and might go to better mankind. With each wafer so valuable to the company, accuracy becomes key: You don’t want to put “the million dollars at risk,” as Leproust says.

Before each pass of the machine, a camera on the printer’s nozzle actually lines up with little crosshair targets on the silicon. When you’re dealing with microscopic bits of DNA, even getting it just a little bit off-kilter can result in the whole wafer having to be tossed out.

Then, after final processing, it’s taken off the silicon wafer and shipped out to customers in vials.

The business case

Okay, so each DNA-laden wafer sells for $1 million. But who’s buying?

Lots of biology labs have need for custom DNA, for everything from testing new vaccines to using gene therapy to develop new drugs.

But since custom DNA synthesis has historically been so slow and so pricey, labs have been forced by budgetary restrictions to go to other, cheaper alternatives, including cloning, where you give up the ability to custom-design your sample by making a literal genetic copy of your existing samples.

These puppies were cloned from each other.Getty Images

“They have more ideas than they had money,” Leproust says.

While Twist is charging customers a lot, it’s still as much as one-third the price as custom DNA has cost historically, Leproust says. And Twist’s turnaround time for delivering the DNA is days, not weeks. Customers can do science, tweak their parameters, and have a new sample to continue research all within a week.

Right place, right time

It’s a case of being in the right place at the right time, too. The science of genetic research is progressing nicely, making for a nice and growing market for Twist’s products. But the tech giants, notably Microsoft, are starting to experiment with using DNA for computer storage.

Big businesses, banks, and hospitals all have a habit of storing important archival data on old-fashioned magnetic tape storage, basically big cassette tapes. But those tapes tend to wear out after 30 years, meaning decades of data can be lost.

A Twist scientist prepares to load the silicon plate into the custom DNA writing machine.Twist Bioscience

DNA, though, has a ton of potential. Unlike magnetic tape, DNA can stay totally intact and readable for as long as 10,000 years, in the right situation. Once the science gets far enough, DNA can store a lot of data, too: You can fit “the whole internet in a shoebox” one day, Leproust says.

Ultimately Microsoft Research estimates that one cubic millimeter of DNA can eventually store one exabyte, or one billion gigabytes of data. But the science is handicapped by the fact that it’s tough to actually store that much data.

And while technology trends may come and go, there’s going to be a need and capability to “read” human DNA for as long as there are humans, meaning it’s way more reliable.

In all cases, the market for custom genes is around $1 billion and $15 billion for DNA storage, Leproust says, and both markets are only growing as the world wakes up to its potential. And if everybody is going to want DNA, Leproust sees Twist as playing an important role in getting it to them.

“I want to be the one to make the DNA,” Leproust says.

This startup is selling $1 million plates of made-to-order, custom-built DNA to companies like Microsoft

The revolutionary Lateral Flow Device Assembly

The revolutionary Lateral Flow Device Assembly solution combines intelligent automation and modularity on a desktop scale. It provides manufacturers flexible rapid test production capacity within a desktop footprint.

The solution is easily adaptable and can assemble different rapid tests with minimal product specific adjustments. Machine vision guidance and quality control throughout the entire system ensure a consistent high quality assembled device. The LFDA solution is built on Ginolis’s modular Xanthia robotic platform. The modular design provides speed, accuracy and precision, as well as flexibility for the future.

The Lateral Flow Test production line includes a bulk feeder, rotating disc and Scara robots for the infeed of cassettes or housings, an intelligent conveyor for material transfer, vision guided strip cutting and placement, electrically functioning press unit and a final comprehensive quality control check.

For more information about Ginolis’ Lateral Flow Device Assembly solutions visit http://ginolis.com/lateral_flow_devic… or contact info@ginolis.com

Modules and Applications: bulk feeders, intelligent conveyor, Scara robots, strip infeed with single card, car magazine or reel modules, press unit with force and height parameters, integrated machine vision quality control and reject outfeed

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BHBRRhf1fw&feature=youtu.be

The revolutionary Lateral Flow Device Assembly

New low-cost opportunities for science

Competition for funding in science is stiff and tends to get stiffer as the number of PhD graduates explodes, together with reduction in government research funding when crises strike, for example. While crowdfunding is a way to overcome this problem, even this alternative is likely to become very competitive. Scientists need to find low-cost alternatives in order to continue making good science. Fortunately, prospects have never been better in this field. Here I examine two new technologies that can help scientists to conduct their research at much lower cost than inside the traditional pathway. They are open-source hardware and scripting.

Open-source hardware

Open-source hardware consists in machines that have their blueprints freely available. Therefore, they can be reproduced by anyone with the means to build them. Nowadays, this has been more accessible than ever. Microcontrollers, like Arduino and Raspberry pi, (which are themselves open-source, by the way) allow people with elementary knowledge on electronics to build devices. At the same time, 3D printers allow low-cost fabrication of customized parts. Joining microcontrollers and customized 3D-printed parts, production costs can be really low. As a consequence, there is a plethora of devices which have their blueprints openly available on the internet, and that can be built at a very low cost. Many of such devices are specifically designed for use in the laboratory, like syringe pumps and spectrophotometers. Others not necessarily, like robotic arms. In any case, they can all be used in laboratory contexts.

The main advantage of using open-source hardware compared to commercial instruments is the cost: open-source hardware can cost less than 10% of similar commercial instruments while performing exactly the same task. Thus, for some cases even crowd funding may not be necessary: a few hundreds of dollars can be enough to fund a research project. It must be understood that the lower cost of open-source devices does not mean that their quality is inferior to their commercial counterparts. Especially in science, devices are vastly overpriced. This is not necessarily greed: the market scale in science is small when compared to that of the general public, and thus manufacturers need to charge high prices or their business collapses. This means that a device with the same technology of a common home printer, like many autosamplers, for example, can cost a hundred times or more than the printer. What happens many times is that some commercial devices can only be used together with others from the same manufacturer by design. In such case, scientists are hostage of the situation and need to purchase the expensive accessory even knowing that more affordable alternatives exist, like those based on open-source hardware. This brings us to the second technology that helps scientists to save money in the laboratory: scripting.

Scripting

Scripting is a kind of programming. Without delving into technical details, scripting can be seen as an easy variety of programming, easy enough to be promptly accessible to people without time to devote to learn complex subjects, which is the case of most laboratory technicians or scientists. The main way by which scripting can help scientists save money in the laboratory is by enabling compatibility between devices from different manufactures, regardless of their originally designed purpose. Scripting allows that because it acts at the software, and not hardware, level. From a very simplistic angle, scripting is a kind of sophisticated scheduling: the tasks performed by a given instrument can be synchronized with those performed by another, provided that both are being controlled by a single computer (or group of connected computers). Scripting power resides in its simplicity: with scripting, it is possible to control mouse clicks and keyboard inputs. Therefore, scripting effectively substitute a person controlling the computer, and repeat her actions over and over.

The problem of lack of compatibility between scientific instruments is an old one. The response of the industry has been the proposal of standardization of scientific instruments, but this has never come true. The main reason for the failure of standardization is that, differently from scripting, it acts mostly at the hardware level by modifying the instruments themselves. Beyond being a complex task, which involves professionals from diverse backgrounds, standardization costs money both for manufacturers and for users. In contrast, scripting is entirely free (AutoIt, for example, is a free scripting language that allows control of mouse clicks and keyboard shortcuts) and easily accessible. In addition to that, standardization necessarily creates a “club”, where insiders have the control of who can enter or not. This is a grave obstacle that hampers the adoption of the amazing devices developed in the explosion of creativity enabled by recent developments in open-source hardware, for example.

Democratization of science

These are exciting times for scientists. Crowd funding enables anyone with a good idea to make it real. Open-source hardware lowers the cost of devices by more than 90% of what they cost just a few years ago. Scripting makes these devices work together, and also together with commercial devices. More than ever, stunning technological advances can be a part of scientific discovery even in the most modest laboratories. These are times of true democratization of science.

New low-cost opportunities for science