October 2009 Contents

Show me the Money

So far, nearly 5,000 grants totalling over $1 billion have been awarded by NIH. Most have been awarded to research labs at large universities and small colleges, while some have been awarded to small, privately owned research and product development companies. This month's feature article looks at how grant funding as well as venture capital investment is impacting research efforts.

Richard Daub

Perspective On: An Environmental Lab

Lab manager Larry Decker's TestAmerica environmental lab in Connecticut is where he and his staff analyze thousands of soil, wastewater, and monitoring well samples each month. One key to the lab's success is a management team that "works on training every individual to be reactive and ready to go if the person is needed in a different department."

Sara Goudarzi

Honing Your Interviewing Skills

For most laboratories, turnover is low and tenures are high, so the opportunity and necessity to conduct interviews is limited. But, when it's necessary, the author argues that "behavioral event interviews" work best because the questioning format requires on-the-spot self-analysis that is difficult to prepare for except through life experiences.

Ronald B. Pickett

Training on a Budget

In tough economic times many companies slash their training budgets, thinking that training is expendable. This, according to the author, is ill-advised. Training is not an expense to be minimized; it is an investment that pays dividends by helping workers do their jobs more effectively so that they can positively impact a company's bottom line.

Brian C. Smith, Ph.D.

Biological Sample Storage and Management

This author highlights some of the shortcomings in the use of cold-temperature-based sample storage, describes new technologies available that mitigate these shortcomings, and offers suggestions on the convergence of these technologies in meeting the global challenge to be faced as bio-specimen collection increases in research labs as well as in bio-banks.

Omoshile Clement

BSC Ergonomics and ADA Compliance

Because of the increased incidence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders among laboratory workers, the principles of ergonomic design and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) are becoming increasingly important topics in the design of the biological safety cabinet (BSC).

David S. Phillips

Outsourcing

Outsourcing laboratory work is usually done on the assumption that another laboratory is able to perform the work more cheaply and/or more rapidly while maintaining adequate quality of the results. Laboratory managers must study other laboratories to determine if this assumption is correct before outsourcing work to them.

John K. Borchardt

When Growth Stalls

Sales and revenue growth are stalled at many companies in a variety of industries. As a result, these firms have frozen or reduced laboratory budgets and in some cases have reduced laboratory staffing levels. There are several ways laboratory managers can effectively respond to these situations in order to maintain laboratory productivity.

John K. Borchardt

Independent Labs

Independent labs are a service business that thrives on the need to perform quality testing services to answer a variety of customer questions. Successful labs protect their customers' confidentiality, meet timelines, act as the independent third party and build relationships based on the customers' needs.

Chris Given

Science Matters

Consider Doing Something Different in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Rich Pennock

Product Focus

LIMS

BioSafety Cabinets

Mills & Grinders

Technology News

The latest equipment, instrument and system introductions to the laboratory market.

Lab Safety

CAV, RAV & VAV - Chemical fume hood design pros and cons

Glenn Ketcham and Vince McLeod

How It Works

Multiplexing Technology to Increase Throughput in LC/MS Analysis

Viscometer/rheometer-on-a-chip

Capturing More Volatile EPA Method 8270 Compounds

Automating Sample Preparation

Spotlight on Software

The LIMS Market

A quick snapshot of the latest offerings from the major LIMS vendors