Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS) are essential tools for managing data for QA/QC/Process labs throughout the chemical and petroleum industries.

As scientists around the globe research cures and treatments for diseases, work to increase the data capacities of the information superhighway, and develop methods to clean the environment, they must also take time to contemplate the future of their industry, especially after the economic downturn of 2009.

Dr. Hakim Djaballah, director of the High-Throughput Screening (HTS) Core Facility at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, talks about his experiences setting up a screening lab in an academic environment.

CompuChem, a division of Liberty Analytical based in Cary, North Carolina, recently improved sample delivery, measurement protocol and rinse-out times by coupling a rapid sampling system with an ICP-MS system, reducing the time required to analyze a typical CLP sample by 80 percent.

Our second annual confidence survey reveals a growing optimism about the future and indicates that companies and organizations now have a better understanding of where they are and what they need to accomplish to begin moving forward again.