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Inspired by a personal experience, a University of Arkansas economist examined the relationship between corruption and regulatory compliance – on both a theoretical and empirical level – and found, surprisingly, that corruption in some circumstances actually fosters regulatory compliance.
Dawn is arriving. The crisp aroma of meadow flowers fills the air and the crowd inhales deeply to capture the scent, if only for a moment. They wait. Backlit by the rising sun, the anointed leader surges into view and a mighty cheer erupts from the crowd, deafening in the celebration of their chosen leader. Raising a hand, asking for quiet attention, the leader guides the prancing steed, resplendent in silver and highly polished leather, up and down the front lines, looking deeply into the eyes of those who have chosen to follow.
From drug discovery to academic research, cell culture has become a staple of biological exploration. Researchers remove cells directly from animals to grow in laboratory conditions that are similar to the environment inside the body. They can then manipulate the cells in ways that are not feasible in vivo—inside a living organism.
Walk into a pharmaceutical or medical laboratory and a couple of things will strike you. First, everything is unsparingly clean. Second, due to regulations and quality standards, those who work in these labs have excruciatingly specific protocols and procedures to follow. They are well trained and intensely focused on quality.
During the past several years, the scientific community has been subjected to a campaign to improve communications with the external public. The drumbeat for enhanced engagement emanated from a range of interests. People working in industry, academia, and professional organizations as well as communication scholars and gurus all aggressively urged scientists to refine what they say and how they say it in dealings with global collaborators, citizens, funders, opinion leaders, and legislators— all to better improve relationships and outcomes.
Pharmaceutical and biotech companies are moving from centralized organizations to a virtual network of contract research organizations (CROs), academic partners, internal labs, and government agencies. Access to real-world patient data, supporting precision or stratified drug discovery, and the general trend to externalize services all require sophisticated data management that enables the right mix of access and security. This article will look at the different research and development (R&D) processes in life science organizations where data is central to collaboration, and how it needs to be consistently captured, integrated, managed, tracked, and analyzed. Technical considerations for supporting this changing environment will also be explored and, as pharmaceutical companies are already in this increasingly complex network of data and partners, this will be done in a pragmatic way.
In the science world, as in all technical fields these days, there’s a strong emphasis on the need to find the best talent. That’s not surprising, given the fact that most hiring managers are well aware of the growing shortage of people working in all STEM jobs. As baby boomers prepare to retire, and as higher educational institutions continue to produce less people who are willing to invest their time in the study of these critical professions, competition for talent will only become stronger and more challenging.
You’ve known him for years; you went to graduate school at the same time, worked on projects together, and served on the board of a professional association. You have even had dinner at each other’s homes! Now he seems to object to every idea and suggestion you come up with—and he does it in public! Today you found out that he is undercutting your authority and talking about you behind your back. What happened, what can you do about it, and how do you get control of the situation?
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.
The workers who may have the most to gain from attending company social events may be the ones who actually get the least value from them, a new study suggests.
Researchers found that, in general, workers tended to report closer relationships with their colleagues the more that they attended company social events and shared their nonwork lives with their co-workers.
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Dawn is arriving. The crisp aroma of meadow flowers fills the air and the crowd inhales deeply to capture the scent, if only for a moment. They wait. Backlit by the rising sun, the anointed leader surges into view and a mighty cheer erupts from the crowd, deafening in the celebration of their chosen leader. Raising a hand, asking for quiet attention, the leader guides the prancing steed, resplendent in silver and highly polished leather, up and down the front lines, looking deeply into the eyes of those who have chosen to follow.
From drug discovery to academic research, cell culture has become a staple of biological exploration. Researchers remove cells directly from animals to grow in laboratory conditions that are similar to the environment inside the body. They can then manipulate the cells in ways that are not feasible in vivo—inside a living organism.
During the past several years, the scientific community has been subjected to a campaign to improve communications with the external public. The drumbeat for enhanced engagement emanated from a range of interests. People working in industry, academia, and professional organizations as well as communication scholars and gurus all aggressively urged scientists to refine what they say and how they say it in dealings with global collaborators, citizens, funders, opinion leaders, and legislators— all to better improve relationships and outcomes.
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Papers, Ph.D. students, and so on make up the traditional outputs of science laboratories, but these days energy consumption matters more and more. That consumption includes the energy to condition the air and drive the analytical platforms. Disposable plastic, reagents, and other items also contribute to a lab’s consumption. Those consumables raise growing concerns as labs around the world strive to be more efficient, more “green.” Today’s vendors supply more options than ever to build a green operation. Nonetheless, much more work needs to be done to modernize labs.
The creation of sustainable, high-performance and efficient buildings is growing in importance for companies and governments around the world for both economic and environmental reasons. In particular, laboratories are the focus of many of these reduction efforts as they are some of the largest consumers of energy due to the specialized equipment and ventilation systems required for safety and compliance.
Q: Describe a recent laboratory design/ build or retrofit at your organization.
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Walk into a pharmaceutical or medical laboratory and a couple of things will strike you. First, everything is unsparingly clean. Second, due to regulations and quality standards, those who work in these labs have excruciatingly specific protocols and procedures to follow. They are well trained and intensely focused on quality.
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.
The acquisition of equipment is a strategic business and operational decision that balances technology, durability, reliability, active running time, purchase price, maintenance, service, and running costs with the value the acquisition could potentially deliver for a laboratory enterprise.
Most Recent
Inspired by a personal experience, a University of Arkansas economist examined the relationship between corruption and regulatory compliance – on both a theoretical and empirical level – and found, surprisingly, that corruption in some circumstances actually fosters regulatory compliance.
The workers who may have the most to gain from attending company social events may be the ones who actually get the least value from them, a new study suggests.
Researchers found that, in general, workers tended to report closer relationships with their colleagues the more that they attended company social events and shared their nonwork lives with their co-workers.
Fear of public speaking tops death and spiders as the nation's number one phobia. But new research shows that learning to rethink the way we view our shaky hands, pounding heart, and sweaty palms can help people perform better both mentally and physically.
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Pharmaceutical and biotech companies are moving from centralized organizations to a virtual network of contract research organizations (CROs), academic partners, internal labs, and government agencies. Access to real-world patient data, supporting precision or stratified drug discovery, and the general trend to externalize services all require sophisticated data management that enables the right mix of access and security. This article will look at the different research and development (R&D) processes in life science organizations where data is central to collaboration, and how it needs to be consistently captured, integrated, managed, tracked, and analyzed. Technical considerations for supporting this changing environment will also be explored and, as pharmaceutical companies are already in this increasingly complex network of data and partners, this will be done in a pragmatic way.
Laboratories in the U.S. are energy-intensive facilities that use anywhere from 30 to 100 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity and 75,000 to 800,000 Btu of natural gas per square foot annually. Actual use varies with such factors as the age of the facility, the type of research done there, and the climate zone in which the lab is located. In a typical laboratory, lighting and space heating account for approximately 74 percent of total energy use (Figure 1), making these systems the best targets for energy savings. Because laboratories consume so much energy, the potential for energy and dollar savings through energy-efficiency improvements and energy conservation is impressive—some studies estimate that implementing such measures can result in savings as high as 50 percent for laboratories and cleanroom facilities.
Do you like Pringles™ potato chips? Do you use skin lotion? Have you noticed all the new planets outside our solar system that have been recently discovered? When you’ve flown, have you noticed the funny tails that are on the wing tips? Have you seen the new cancer-fighting drugs that are tailored to individuals and their tumors? All these things and many others are made possible by HPC (high performance computing). HPC is quickly becoming an important tool in many companies, research institutes, and universities.
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Buying a laboratory information management system (LIMS) is a major undertaking, and it is critical that the system selected fulfils not only all of the laboratory’s current requirements but also allows for future development.
Scientists use models to unravel how something works. If you’ve ever taken variously sized balls and arranged them as the planets in our solar system, then you’ve made a model.
The lab systems we have today are not built for integration system-wide. They are built by vendors and developers to accomplish a set of tasks, and connections to other systems are either not considered or are avoided for competitive reasons.
