To increase efficiency and drive down costs, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are increasingly turning to multi-vendor asset management service providers for maintenance of their equipment throughout its life cycle from financing to disposal.

Probably the single most common item of personal protection in the laboratory is the glove. Yet it is also the item most likely to receive the least amount of thought or consideration and may be the most misunderstood.

With many companies merging with other companies and/or acquiring laboratories, many laboratories find themselves dealing with trying to get a variety of informatics solutions to work together. After the mergers or acquisitions are finalized, these labs are required to harmonize and share systems. 

In this month's Science Matters column, the Kelly Global Workforce Index survey, by global workforce solutions company Kelly Services, reveals that there is a strong desire for jobs that fulfill vital psychological needs of employees—something that is fueling a global shift in workplace dynamics.

A dynamic shift in the way researchers conduct their work has had a profound effect on the design of their facilities. Emphasis has focused on three main components: establishing large open labs, the distribution of utilities to and within the lab, and the auxiliary spaces that both support the research experiments and promote collaborative dialogue between colleagues.

Staff reductions and corporate restructuring frequently result in fragmentation of high-performance work teams. Because they are often a cost-effective means of accomplishing corporate goals, some of these teams need to be reconstructed.