Product Resource: Resources

As the heart of the lab and its workflow, CO2 incubators can make or break the facility’s overall productivity. Douglas Wernerspach, business manager of CO2 and constant temperature at Thermo Fisher Scientific (Waltham, MA), says researchers depend on CO2 incubators to be reliable and provide uniform conditions for cells.

Taking some time to investigate the lab’s operations to uncover inefficiencies is a key part of successful lab design. It’s important to note any complaints regarding lab ergonomics: benches that are too high or crowded, not enough space for computer-related work, workflows scattered around the lab instead of being concentrated.

Large organizations involved in research and production typically handle large volumes of chemical inventory that require different types of storage and tracking. When a laboratory environment is part of the mix, managing the chemical inventory used by the lab presents a challenge to lab managers and environment, health, and safety (EHS) professionals, who must submit regulatory reports that accurately reflect the status of chemicals on-site. Ensuring that the chemical inventory data is accurate is challenging; providing that information in regulatory reports can be a time-consuming and frustrating task if it is not automated.

Scott Martin, Ph.D., team leader for RNA interference (RNAi) screening at the National Institutes of Health, Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, talks to contributing editor Tanuja Koppal, Ph.D., about recent trends in the use of different types of cells and reagents for screening drug targets and cellular pathways.












