How does a research facility or biotech company with older laboratories update existing facilities to current energy conservation standards?

Leadership is communication, yet too many business leaders do not understand or appreciate this very basic truth. It may not be entirely their fault, though.

You have a wonderful staff. You have given all the assignments and now it’s time to sit back and wait for the results to roll in. Sadly, not in my world. There is a lot more to getting things done than assigning tasks.

Laboratories are at the forefront of research and analysis. But when it comes to communication, they are followers rather than leaders and can be very slow to adopt innovations.

Many lab scientists remember what it was like to work “on the bench.” The term referred to the standard practice of manual processes or methods. No matter what services a particular lab offered, you could bet the work was all done by hand.

Many people may be reluctant to say it, but without a doubt, it’s true: Our business environment is increasingly filled with apathy, entitlement issues, lack of professionalism, complaining, conflict, and blame.

Greg Herman, program manager at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) discusses his experiences planning, designing and constructing the Biological Sciences Facility and the Computational Sciences Facility at PNNL.

When it comes to bacterial culturing, modern laboratories have little choice but to wait days for definitive proof that bacteria are alive and pose a health threat.

As more analytes are discovered, more tests are required per biological sample for drug discovery, research analysis and diagnostic testing. However, an unlimited amount of sample is never available.