Lab Manager | Run Your Lab Like a Business

Cover Story |  Volume 7 - Issue 4  |  May 2012

Appifying the Laboratory

Specialized apps for research are becoming more evident, entrenched, and indispensible

Sections

Editor's Buzz

Yes, There Is an App for That

Some expect the mobile apps market to quadruple over the next four years, from $6.8 billion to $25 billion. Others forecast revenues at $29.5 billion by 2013, increasing from $7 billion in 2010.

Laboratory Technology

'Appifying' the Laboratory

In recent years, research labs have been a notable beneficiary as a variety of highly functional and specialized apps have gained the acceptance and even gratitude of a broad spectrum of laboratory managers, research scientists and bench technologists.

Science Matters: Information Technology and Your Workforce

From a utilitarian standpoint, it was inevitable that technology would redefine the processes of the modern lab. It began with the need to automate as suppliers realized they could help labs significantly improve their products by taking manual work out of the equation.

No Interference

As samples become increasingly active and more complex, labs simply cannot afford interferences caused by flow path activity in their GCs. A non-inert flow path can cause peak tailing and signal loss. Users need the most inert flow path possible to achieve the lower detection limits demanded by increasingly tough regulatory obligations.

Faster Turnaround Means Happier Customers

Managing the pace of technological change that defines next-generation sequencing (NGS) isn’t just an issue for NGS labs. It also challenges the makers of NGS instrumentation. The pressure to stay ahead of the curve is particularly felt in vendor sequencing services labs.

Pittcon Power Products

Systems announced in Orlando could make a big difference in the lab.

Management Tips

Lab Manager Academy: Making Time Work For You

There are certain “guaranteed to make life easier” tips you can use that will make your day flow just a little bit better.

Business Management

Got Ethics?

Got Ethics?

Does your laboratory have “ethical muscle”? Do you feel your employees are flexing this muscle? Ethics and data integrity should be an integral part of your laboratory’s quality program.

Computing and Automation

Modular & Flexible

Automated biological testing can take on many forms, ranging from individual instruments performing a single task to large, room-sized, custom-robotic systems capable of automating very complex tasks. In between these two extremes are simple modular automated systems designed to automate a select series of tasks necessary for a specific assay technology.

Ask the Expert

Ask The Expert: Accelerating Research with Mass Spectrometry

Allis Chien, Ph.D., director of the Vincent Coates Foundation Mass Spectrometry Laboratory at Stanford University’s mass spectrometry shared core resource facility, discusses the advances being made in the instrumentation and applications for mass spectrometry (MS).

Lab Health and Safety

All Keyed Up

All Keyed Up

There is a good chance you spend many hours at a computer workstation entering data and researching databases. By setting up your computer workstation optimally and paying attention to a few key elements of positioning and alignment, you can greatly reduce the chance of an ergonomic injury.

Lab Health and Safety Tips

Develop a System for the Legal, Safe and Ecologically Acceptable Disposal of Chemical Waste

Develop a System for the Legal, Safe and Ecologically Acceptable Disposal of Chemical Waste

We recommend the establishment of a chemical management system. This system provides for the safe procurement, storage, use and disposal of chemicals.

Research-Specific Labs

Perspective On: An Environmental Research Lab

Clean Harbors of Baltimore, Inc., is a transfer storage and disposal facility and part of the largest hazardous waste disposal company in North America.The facility provides recycling, treatment and disposal of a variety of hazardous and nonhazardous wastes and analyzes hundreds of samples each month.

Lab Product

The Right Choice: Biological Safety Cabinets

Biological safety cabinets—also known as biosafety cabinets or BSCs— are extremely important in conducting experiments safely in many laboratories that deal with biohazardous material on a regular basis.

May 2012 Technology News

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

Product Focus

Product Focus: Chromatography Data Systems

The right chromatography data system (CDS) can spell the difference between a streamlined data collection process and one that is haphazard. CDSs are software packages that collect, store, and help users interpret data.

Product Focus: Fume Hoods

The fume hood in your lab might seem ancient, unless you imagine Thomas Edison working in the early 1900s under a fireplace chimney. In the summer, though, Edison’s idea failed to create enough draft as outside temperatures increased.

Product Focus: HPLC Systems

Modular HPLC systems provide versatility in terms of troubleshooting and repair as well as choice of mobile phase (through the ability to swap out columns rapidly).

Product Focus: Thermal Cyclers

Product Focus: Thermal Cyclers

This year marks the 25th anniversary of commercial thermal cyclers for the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In brief, this technology amplifies segments of DNA.

Product Focus: LIMS

A laboratory information management system (LIMS) consists of software with the ability to perform a wide variety of tasks.

Surveys

2012 ELN Survey Results

Electronic Laboratory Notebooks (ELNs) are software programs that replace paper notebooks in the lab, but they are also more than that, helping to close the electronic gaps among and between data systems. Recently, ELNs have been part of the

2012 Water Purification Survey Results

Designing a new lab water system or retrofitting an existing system requires a thorough understanding and working knowledge of contaminants, purification technologies, industry standards, user requirements, and water distribution options.

2012 Chromatography Columns Survey Results

Column technology has been a rich area for HPLC R&D. As reasonably expensive consumables, columns are a significant factor in LC operating costs and performance— in other words, key value drivers.

2012 Microplate Reader Survey Results

Microplate readers are used to discern either physical, chemical, or biological events in microtiter plates and are common in academia and the biotech, pharmaceutical, and drug discovery industries, as well as in research.

How it Works

How High Performance Fittings for HPLC & UHPLC Work

HPLC systems are forced to their pressure limits under fast HPLC and high resolution HPLC conditions. System back pressure issues can arise from efforts to increase efficiency and resolution such as increasing flow rates and column lengths, as well as reducing particle size.

How It Works: Affordable, High Density -80 C Biobanking

Since the early 1990s, biobanking has been evolving as a key resource, increasing the availability and use of biological material such as DNA, RNA, tissues and cells for biomedical research.

How It Works: A New Approach to Western Blotting

How It Works: A New Approach to Western Blotting

Problem: A mainstay in life science research, western blotting is commonly used to assess relative protein expression differences, such as when investigating cellular signaling pathways. Accurate quantification requires careful attention to procedural details and normalization.

How It Works: A Microfluidic Valve

Strong growth in healthcare spending, especially in emerging economies, is driving increased demand for medical testing, drug discovery, genomics, and proteomics, as well as the instruments used to carry out these processes.

White Papers and Application Notes

Adam Equipment's PMB 53 Moisture Analyzer Clearly Shines in Glass Manufacturing Applications

It has become crystal-clear to most of us that glass is something we just can’t live without. Scientists use glass beakers for measuring chemicals.

How Tubes and Plates can Affect Your Experiments

It has been known for several years that chemicals (e.g., BPA and phlalates) can leach out of the plastic, such as toys and baby bottles. The impact of these chemicals on human health is well known.

EDTA by Anion Exchange HPLC

Hamilton Company is best known for manufacturing precision fluid measuring products, including syringes for HPLC and GC. For the last 30 years Hamilton Company has manufactured HPLC resins and columns while developing separations for customers.

Determination of Trace Level Bromate in Drinking Water (Tap and Bottled)

Currently, the most common disinfection process in water and wastewater treatment plants currently uses chlorine gas. A process of ultraviolet (UV) disinfection is being increasingly used in many European countries but in many circumstances, ozonation is preferred.

Biological Safety Cabinet Movement and Recertification

Field certification of Biological Safety Cabinets (BSC’s) is regulated by the NSF/ANSI 49 Standard, Biosafety Cabinetry: Design, Construction, Performance, and Field Certification, Annex F Field Tests. Section F.1, Field Certification Preconditions and Intervals, discusses when it is necessary to certify BSC’s.

Measurement of Gold Nanoparticle Size and Concentration by Spectrophotometry

Although gold nanoparticle production can be controlled to yield specific size ranges, both the concentration and size of nanoparticles must be checked following production.

Positive Displacement Pump and Turbine Pump Attributes

Rotary vane Positive Displacement (PD) pumps may be the most commonly used pumps in re-circulating chillers today. Performance and low cost have made them the favored pumps for a variety of applications. T

UPLC Screening To Preparative HPLC Using CSH Column Technology and Focused Gradients

Reaction screening and purification are essential steps in small molecule pharmaceutical discovery labs. Cleaner samples for subsequent synthesis can reduce reaction by-products and facilitate the critical final purification of material for pharmaceutical profiling and toxicology studies.

Products in Action

Energy Efficient Engineered Cabinets from The Baker Company

For 60 years The Baker Company has been at the forefront of engineering, testing and production of reliable laboratory contamination control equipment. Our cabinets and hoods are crafted with precision for your unique situation.

Contamination Prevention without Compromise

Protect your valuable samples with Thermo Scientific 100% pure copper CO2 incubators. The Thermo Scientific 100% pure copper CO2 incubators allow you to culture precious samples, without worry.

The Future of Race Way....

Starline Track Busway STARLINE Plug-In Raceway, has revolutionized the power distribution industry! Universal Electric Corporation created STARLINE Plug-In Raceway to meet the ever-changing power distribution and datacom needs of research, pharmaceutical, university, hospital and data labs.