Lab Manager Magazine®

Articles Authored by Tanuja Koppal, Ph.D.

Ask the Expert: Optimizing Lab Services: Evaluating the Single-Vendor Option

Published: April 30 2013

I work in early drug discovery doing preclinical work. I am in charge of all the analytical chemistry and compound management at this site. In my group there are eight people, and we use a number of ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) and mass spectrometry (MS) instruments. We have about fifteen UHPLCMS, ten preparative LC-MS, and four supercritical fluid (SFC)-MS systems. There is also all the other chemistry support equipment, such as ten flash chromatography instruments, microwave synthesizers, and all the robotics for automating synthesis and compound storage and management. Our site also has a biology department that handles all the screening assays, in vivo work, and bioanalytics. They have a lot of equipment for performing assays and high-content screening. The bioanalytics group also uses a number of triple quadrupole MS and Orbitrap MS instruments.

ASK THE EXPERT: Latest in Field Instruments: Applications for Water Testing

Published: March 4 2013

Matthew Sullivan, an environmental specialist in the Field Operations section of the Bureau of Environmental Services for the city of Portland, Oregon, talks to contributing editor Tanuja Koppal, Ph.D., about how field testing, particularly for water analysis, has changed over the years. The testing equipment is now better suited for field analysis, in terms of its size, compactness, and robustness. The newer instruments have also allowed for sampling and testing to be done remotely and in an automated fashion. Overall, field instrumentation is striving to provide faster, cheaper, more robust, and more real-time measurements for routine analysis.

Fixing the Top 8 Lab Chemical Management Errors

Published: January 24 2013

Step One: Get your chemical inventory under control In October 2012, Lab Manager Magazine, along with ChemSW Inc., hosted a Product Spotlight webinar, "How to Find and Fix the Top Eight Lab Chemical Management Errors." Jon Webb, senior technical specialist and inventory consultant at ChemSW, gave a brief presentation on the challenges of chemical inventory and data management and outline some of the common errors that exist in labs today. He discussed best practices in chemical inventory...

ASK THE EXPERT : Trends in Bioinformatics

Published: January 23 2013

Joel Dudley, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Genetics and Genomic Sciences and Director of Biomedical Informatics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, talks to contributing editor Tanuja Koppal, Ph.D. about the current changes impacting bioinformatics. While data generation gets simpler and less expensive, data search and interpretation remain a formidable challenge. Lack of standardization in data nomenclature and analysis tools continues to spur innovation in the creation of custom software programs and services. Since there exists no easy, one-stop shop for data management, Dudley advises lab managers to leverage their core facilities for bioinformatics, to look out for emerging software companies, and to get creative with informatics tools when tackling complex integrative biology.

ASK THE EXPERT: Setting Up a Cell Culture Lab

Published: December 4 2012

Dr. Amanda Capes-Davis, an independent cell culture consultant and founding manager of CellBank Australia, talks to contributing editor Tanuja Koppal, Ph.D., about the imperative need to establish best practices in a cell culture laboratory. She talks about everything that can be done from the early stages in terms of utilization of lab space to establishment of procedures for minimizing contamination and also planning foremergencies and disaster recovery.

Ask the Expert : The Impact of UHPLC on Efficiency and Outcomes

Published: November 5 2012

Steven Wolk, Ph.D., associate director of analytical chemistry at SomaLogic Inc., discusses the use of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and ultra high-performance (or pressure) liquid chromatography (UHPLC) technologies for analytical work with contributing editor, Tanuja Koppal, Ph.D. He reflects on the changes taking place in the liquid chromatography market, on both the hardware side and the software side, and comments on the incremental improvements that can be made.

Ask the Expert: Choosing the Right IT System and Data Infrastructure

Published: October 6 2012

Alexander Sherman, director of systems in the Department of Neurology and director of strategic development and systems at the Neurological Clinical Research Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses why the right choice and setup for data collecting, data handling, and data sharing infrastructure is important to help establish successful research collaborations.