To move into the digital age, you need software that can help you manage the growing amount of data generated by the modern lab. The right tools help turn that data into actionable insights and keep your lab operating efficiently. Today’s laboratory software solutions need to easily migrate data and methods from aging platforms and simplify data analysis and reporting tasks.
This webinar explores key features laboratory software must have to meet the demands of today’s laboratory. It also discusses the best process to migrate methods and data to the latest software platform. Another touchpoint is how to increase productivity and accessibility of instruments through a modern cloud-based architecture.
Speakers
Kathleen O’Dea Application Engineer
Agilent Technologies, Inc.
Kathleen O’Dea has a 20-year history with Agilent’s OpenLab products. As an Informatics Application Engineer, Kathleen has visited customers around the world in a wide variety of market areas, helping them select and implement OpenLab software products.
The topic of optimising laboratory efficiencies is at the forefront of discussions for many lab managers. With the support of new and improved smarter technologies, previous efficiency- and productivity-related challenges are beginning to dissipate as manual processes are starting to be replaced with automated and integrated applications, helping to pave the way towards a fully digitalised lab as part of the internet of things (IoT) movement.
According to the global advisory firm Gartner, a digitalised lab is one that is using digital technologies to change the way they operate their lab, optimise their business model, and ultimately provide new revenue and value-producing opportunities. In a nutshell, it is the process of moving to a digital business.
The results from a survey of pharma lab leaders support this observation. Responses highlighted the urgency to improve and update laboratory processes. Survey takers said that they:
Wanted to achieve quicker results (55%)
Saw a demand for superior quality (44%)
Wanted to improve data integrity (43%)
Found that their current workflow requires optimisation (83%)
Additional survey results showed that only 4% of lab managers are using utilisation data (a tool to understand how all instrumentation in labs is performing) for decision-making. More astonishingly, on average, some lab instruments were only being used 35% of the time.
Goodbye Laborious Systems, Hello Smart Technology
To combat some of the key challenges often faced with existing lab workflows, smart technology is increasingly at the core of change. By helping transform ordinary labs into smart technological labs, companies such as Chemetrix can provide better instrumentation and services to their customers without compromising the quality of results, cost-effectiveness, or laboratory space.
The lab of the future is a concept built on the foundation of digitalised labs. It encompasses smart technological workflow systems that are connected and capable of collecting vast amounts of data via integrated automation. At the Lab of the Future 2020 congress in Cambridge, UK, a keynote speaker at the event was quoted as saying “The lab of the future won’t be bound by walls,” suggesting that the digitalisation of labs will enable more fluidity and interconnectivity between assays and other procedures.
Transforming Science With Digitally Connected Labs
A digitalised lab should be considered a more advanced lab as it has more access to data. With data being key to transforming science, increasing amounts of data generated in any lab, let alone a digitally connected lab, could be a game-changer – but only if it’s collected and synthesized into information and knowledge that is useful.
The digital environment (i.e., paperless work in an electronic format) capitalizes on digitalisation. It incorporates all of the necessary instrumentation for complete data analysis, and enables the full value of the data for decision making.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is often defined as the ability of a machine to learn how to solve cognitive challenges. However, in the context of scientific methodology and laboratory interconnectivity, AI is starting to be used for capturing data to model human observation and decision-making processes. Taken forward, connecting all instruments in a lab via AI enables the opportunity for an even more astute understanding of the interactions between technology and also users, potentially providing an all-inclusive view of all laboratory operations.
By monitoring and identifying inefficiencies and making recommendations, AI goes beyond data interpretation to the level of suggestive intelligence, which could be used to more effectively manage lab operations, and ultimately accelerate research and discovery.
Ai Technology Will Augment Digitalisation Of The Lab
The ability to monitor operations and provide more sophisticated insights is a core reason for introducing AI into the operational lab environment. Accessing this powerful source of information will become a necessary component of scientific productivity. This is an inevitable next step in creating lab management systems that are so efficient and provide knowledge that is so valuable that only AI will be able to produce them.
AI, coupled with universal sensing capabilities to detect and monitor a range of variables, e.g., an instrument’s power draw, enables companies to realize certain operational and financial benefits to their business and plan for the future. Through high-quality and readily available insights, AI enables the simultaneous monitoring of all equipment usage in the lab and holistic capacity tracking.
Providing Digitalised Innovations To Address Customers’ Key Challenges
Chemetrix is proud to supply Agilent technologies and platforms that have pushed the boundaries in providing solutions that support the needs of its customers by enhancing the interconnectivity of its instrument products, services, and consumables through:
Integrated products and services that advance the digital lab
Faster, customer-preferred online interactions that improve the ease of doing business
Solutions that increase operational efficiencies
As an example, part of the Agilent CrossLab Group, the Digital Lab Program, is an ecosystem of products designed to complement one another by delivering enhanced digital capabilities to customer end-users, improving their laboratory experience. This initiative has brought certain technologies to life with industry-leading tools in data intelligence to enhance the scientific and economic outcomes of labs worldwide, such as:
Asset Monitoring – Agilent CrossLab Asset Monitoring combines advanced IoT sensor technology and data analytics to enable lab-wide visibility. It integrates sensor-based utilisation monitoring with business analytics, allowing you to capture lab-wide instrument utilisation data across all of your workflows, view analytics compiled in dashboards to drive insights for improvements and justify CapEx, OpEx, and productivity decisions using fact-based data.
Smart Alerts – Monitoring instrument health and providing email-based alerts, notifying lab operators when to consider replacing key consumables, when to perform preventive maintenance, and when an Agilent instrument stops running anywhere in the lab. Digital lab-wide connectivity lets users remotely monitor all of their Agilent instruments.
SLIMS – End-users can effectively track samples as they progress through the laboratory from sample receipt to automated result reporting. SLIMS combines the best of a laboratory information management system (LIMS) with an electronic laboratory notebook (ELN) to enable end-to-end solutions and manage the full content and context of your laboratory.
OpenLab Software/Cloud Storage – This has become a viable option for virtually every computing workload in the laboratory, from sample management to complex analytics to secure data storage.
Staying Competitive In A Competitive World
Globally, scientific innovation is accelerating, so labs need to consider the technology investments required to become digitally enabled in order to keep up and stay competitive. We live in a data-driven world, so scientific laboratories must fundamentally transform how they create, manage, and effectively use all the data that is generated in their lab ecosystem. Achieving and sustaining a competitive edge in a world of constant change will require the continual transformation of lab operations and scientific data management. This will be the first and most important step toward becoming a truly digitalised lab.
Technology improvements in liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry have enhanced the detection and identification of metabolites and lipids from complex biological samples. As metabolomics and lipidomics measurements become increasingly valued, there is a growing need to automate sample preparation workflows.
Specifically, Agilent automation offers intuitive workflows that provide high data reproducibility and increased throughput while reducing hands-on time. In this webinar, we describe key learnings revealed during the automation of several workflows that extract metabolites and/or lipids from plasma and mammalian cell samples.
Speakers
Genevieve Van de Bittner, Ph.D. R&D Researcher
Agilent Research Laboratories
Agilent Technologies, Inc.
The measurement of trace metals in petroleum feeds and its derivatives provides vital information required for running sustainable and daily petroleum operations around the world. Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) is used in different petroleum facilities due to its ability to perform multi-element analyses, covering a broad range of concentrations as well as being robust and reliable. ICP-MS is becoming more integrated into petroleum laboratories due to its maturity and versatility.
This talk will cover Agilent’s efforts towards developing an ASTM Jet Fuel method. Many interesting elements that aren’t commonly requested, including Platinum (Pt) and Palladium (Pd), will be discussed with this new ICP-MS method. Preliminary data from the ASTM pilot study will be shared in this talk.
Speakers
Jenny Nelson, PhD Application Scientist
Agilent Technologies, Inc.
Mark Kelinske Application Scientist
Agilent Technologies, Inc.
On 13 December 2022, the U.S. Secretary of Energy announced a major scientific breakthrough from a Department of Energy (DOE) National Laboratory: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California has carried out the first nuclear fusion experiment to achieve a net energy gain in the context of the National Ignition Facility (NIF) project.
What is nuclear fusion?
Nuclear fusion is a reaction that powers our main source of light and energy: the sun, as well as other stars. In the reaction, two (or more) atomic nuclei – encompassing protons and neutrons – fuse to form larger nuclei while releasing energy. This energy release occurs because the total mass of the resulting nuclei is less than the mass of the original nuclei that were fused. The leftover mass becomes energy that can be used to run a turbine-electrical power generator.
Making a star on Earth to create energy
Research scientists are attempting to recreate nuclear fusion – the reaction in which stars of our universe are generated – on Earth because the reaction can create enormous amounts of energy.
For nuclear fusion to occur, stellar-like temperatures (i.e., 100 million+ degrees) must be achieved. This process forces the positively charged nuclei to form plasma within a contained vector, overcome their repulsion by moving independently at speeds of around 1,000 km/s, and fuse.
Theoretically, if the energy generated from lab-controlled nuclear fusion could be harnessed and effectively stored on a global scale, this technology could transform how we fuel our homes, businesses, and vehicle transportation. The reaction is so efficient that 1 kg of fusion fuel could provide the same amount of energy as 10 million kg of fossil fuel.
Urgent demand for clean energy
Since the 19th century, Earth’s temperature has increased by approximately 1.1 °C. The amount of carbon dioxide has risen by 50% because greenhouse gases have been released from fossil fuels burnt for energy.
Average temperature increases should not exceed 1.5 °C by the start of the 22nd century, scientists are warning. However, there is an urgent demand for clean energy implementation on a global scale, as a UN report from October 2022 predicts Earth’s temperature will rise by at least 2.4 °C by 2100.4
An emerging solution for clean energy
Research scientists in this field highlight the fact that nuclear fusion may be the solution for generating clean energy while mitigating the effects of global warming. The process does not rely on using energy sourced from fossil fuels and does not produce greenhouse gas pollutants or long-lived radioactive waste. Fusion reactor materials can also be recycled or re-used within 100 years.
In essence, nuclear fusion provides a vision toward clean and low-price energy that is within our grasp, and which one day may be able to support our daily lives, economies, and technological evolutions.
A milestone achievement at LLNL
On 5 December 2022, the LLNL team at its National Ignition Facility (NIF) conducted a nuclear fusion experiment that resulted in a milestone achievement to date: energy breakeven – meaning that the experiment produced more energy than required to initiate the process.
The breakthrough represents a historic moment; it comes at a much-needed time, as the world faces high and unstable energy prices and unprecedented effects of global warming due to continual, global fossil-fueled energy use.
NIF development and testing spans over 50 years, and the facility leads the international laser fusion scientific community where other experiments operate, such as the Japanese FIREX and SG-III in China.
Advancing the research field
Now that LLNL’s research team has successfully demonstrated net-energy gain from a nuclear fusion experiment, there are still some technical challenges to overcome, such as:
Replicating the experiment – if the conditions of the reaction are not favourable, it halts
Further optimisation of all reaction conditions while ensuring that all components are robust enough to withstand the extreme environment necessary for nuclear fusion to occur
Yielding and extracting an even higher energy output from the nuclear fusion reaction
The next R&D phase at LLNL – as well as associated research labs – will most likely involve replication and method development to achieve higher energy gains, and make advancements toward longer-term commercial viability. When it comes to vacuum technology support, Agilent products and expertise will continue to play an important role in advancing this research field.
In the meantime, sustainable lab solutions
While work continues to produce clean energy, what we can do now is make better choices that are in line with sustainability goals. Partnered with My Green Lab, Agilent supports scientists in achieving their lab sustainability goals. Several Agilent instruments also carry My Green Lab certification.
The opportunity to reduce the environmental impact of labs through smarter purchases is tremendous. By procuring instruments and products that will reduce waste, reduce energy consumption, reduce solvent/consumable consumption, and last longer (reducing the need to buy and discard more instruments), laboratories can operate in a more environmentally sustainable way.
Speak to a consultant at Chemetrix to learn more about sustainable instruments with technology that can help your lab achieve its sustainability goals. View our products to learn more about technology that’ll save energy and other resources for a more efficient lab.
According to Arrive Alive, 20 children are hospitalised due to trauma and bone injuries. In 2019, The Road Traffic Management Corporation also reported 45,000 children being hospitalised due to head, neck, and abdominal injuries. The Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital treats many of these patients and Chemetrix is proud to support this organisation in its life-saving work.
On 23 September 2023, Chemetrix was able to make a donation to the Children’s Hospital Trust, with the support of our customers. These funds have been allocated to the Orthopaedic Unit Project at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital. It will aid in the building of a new 30-bed Orthopaedic Unit to accommodate all ortho patients within one facility. The unit will give Orthopaedic patients a chance to regain their mobility and freedom of movement. Education and training for medical and para-medical services form part of these services.
The hospital remains the only specialised paediatric facility in the Western Cape, treating all little Orthopaedic patients. Through the new Orthopaedic Unit, patients will have access to the multidisciplinary team comprised of surgeons, physiotherapists, dieticians, and occupational therapists during one single visit – saving the parents both time and money.
Time was especially important for little Fayaad. He was hit by a motor vehicle while crossing the road with his father and it was a 13-minute drive from the scene of the accident to the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital. Within half an hour of arriving, Fayaad was examined. He was able to go home within the same day following X-rays and a cast being fitted on his injured leg. Orthopaedic clinics at the hospital will ensure he will regain optimal use of his leg as he continues to grow.
Above chronic and hereditary bone abnormality treatments, the hospital also cares for acute trauma injuries. The specialised services and multidisciplinary care are aimed at helping these little ones go on to live healthier and normalised lives. For now and in the future, Chemetrix hopes that its contribution to the Orthopaedic Unit will bring the joy of movement and smiles back to many children.
In cell analysis, real-time cell measurements provide a clear window into the critical functions driving cell signalling, proliferation, activation, toxicity and biosynthesis.
In this webinar, Dr. George Rogers discusses Agilent Seahorse technology and workflow advancements that enable simplified assessment of mitochondrial toxicity with high sensitivity and specificity. Points of discussion include the Mito Tox Index (MTI), a standardised parameter reflecting both the magnitude and mode of mitochondrial toxicity, as well as the applications of the Agilent Seahorse XF Mito Tox Assay solution, including examples with HepG2 cells and primary hepatocytes.
Speaker
George W. Rogers, Ph.D. Research Scientist, Expert Bioassay Solutions, Cell Analysis Division
Agilent Technologies, Inc.
Managing the business of a lab is a whole other science and it’s time-consuming. Controlling costs, and budget and making sure the laboratory meets its business growth goals is a challenge.
The operational data you collect from your instruments is a valuable tool for improving many areas of performance. However, manually collecting sets of data and relying on paper-based aggregation will not give you a complete understanding of your lab efficiency and productivity.
Agilent CrossLab Asset Monitoring capabilities pull together advanced Internet of Things (IoT) sensor technology and data analytics to enable lab-wide visibility. In this webinar, discover how to recognise the hidden costs of not collecting instrument usage data. It will also explore how to use lab-wide instrument data to make capital expense decisions, reduce operational expenses, and improve productivity. An important point of discussion will be how internet-of-things (IoT) technology is available today to help lab managers measure instrument usage. This webinar is ideal for Lab Operations Managers, Operations Directors or persons in Head of Operations roles.
Speakers
Tim Baxter Marketing Manager
CrossLab Connect Asset Monitoring
Agilent Technologies
Michael Farrell Project Manager, Data Visualization and Insights
Agilent Technologies
The average lab consumes more energy per square meter than many hospitals or other commercial buildings—the US EPA estimates that a 30% reduction in lab energy use in the United States translates to removing 1.3 million cars from highways per year. Now, imagine what that would mean for labs around the world.
Scientific labs are experiencing an increasing demand for greater efficiency and productivity and, at the same time, a strong desire to maximise sustainability from the organisation-wide level to daily operations. Combining new data intelligence technologies and better industry insight guidance allows for advancing lab operational efficiency through better asset utilisation and increased sustainability in the digital lab era.
Lab managers want sustainability and optimisation
The central premise for discussing sustainability and optimisation together is that a more efficient lab is a more sustainable one. Most lab managers are mindful of both sustainability and optimisation needs. A global survey of lab managers highlighted a strong desire to meet sustainability goals and remain conscious of sustainability in their daily operations.
Key takeaways from the survey included:
68% of labs surveyed acknowledged that they require further work to improve sustainability.
The most common sustainability expectations from instrument vendors are to reduce emissions and energy consumption. 68% of the respondents expected instrument vendors to help them reduce emissions, while 58% expected a reduction in energy.
Increased efficiency and optimisation are also factors, with the most critical concern being speed as demand for higher sample throughput increases dramatically. The importance that lab leaders place on improving speed, optimisation, and efficiency was also highlighted in a pharmaceutical lab leaders survey.
Of those surveyed, 83% believed their workflows needed optimisation, and 63% would welcome innovations to increase efficiency.
Advanced asset control, digital analytics, and expert guidance
The opportunity for lab optimisation improvement is profound. On average, lab instruments are running only 35% of the time, and only 4% of labs employ data intelligence to ascertain fleet utilisation.
James Connelly, chief executive officer of My Green Lab agrees, “Lab equipment makes up a significant portion of the total plug load in any lab and can lead to high energy consumption. Optimisation of lab equipment through solutions such as asset performance management can dramatically lower the overall energy consumption and be a significant step toward achieving lab sustainability.”
A holistic method of assuring lab-wide optimisation and efficiency is required to address this gap effectively. A combination of advanced asset control, digital analytics, and expert guidance allows greater visibility and utilisation of all lab assets. Maximising the availability and utilisation of all assets will reduce a lab’s carbon footprint and enable more science to be done. Increasing operational efficiency and productivity positively impacts lab sustainability. Reducing energy consumption through increased efficiency is a win-win, especially for the environment.
Data intelligence systems with real-time sensing technology and interconnectivity provide better visibility into lab operations and help drive decisions. Gaining clarity on asset utilisation enables more informed decision-making that advances lab operations to new levels of efficiency and productivity—while increasing sustainability at the same time. Measuring asset utilisation opens the door to appropriate fleet right-sizing and technology refresh, resulting in higher throughput, less power consumption, a smaller workflow footprint, and redeployment of under-used or redundant instruments.
Connected labs reduce waste and increase productivity
Labs that are connected benefit from multiple efficiencies that bolster sustainability. Technologies such as smart alerts foster a proactive approach to instrument monitoring. Rather than reacting to an instrument breakdown, an interconnected lab with smart alert software will prevent it from happening in the first place. Interconnectivity also enables the ability to make data-driven decisions.
Interconnective technology can also increase instrument utilisation because it calculates how much science any particular instrument performs per square meter. Sustainability isn’t limited to the traditional ‘green’ metrics of waste and water— it is equally achieved through technology.
For example, having visibility of all instruments at once to produce an overall lab footprint from which adjustments can be made to make the lab more effective and efficient. Or not having to waste time performing duplicate runs because the smart alert system fires when the first doesn’t go through.
Go greener with asset monitoring
The process of lab optimisation involves integrating utilisation data with instrument service histories and end-of-guaranteed support to measure the instrument’s health. Understanding instrument utilisation and health can determine the optimal footprint and workflow composition.
A central operations strategy provides lab managers with profound insight into asset composition and health and the means to make data-driven decisions and optimise lab operations. The subsequent improvement of lab-wide efficiency not only increases the productivity of the laboratory as a whole but also lab sustainability by doing more science with less energy and resources. A win for both science and the environment.
This article is modified from content originally published by Agilent
Inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is a fast, multielement technique used for trace elemental analysis.
But labs that use ICP-MS – or are thinking of installing one – can find it difficult to unlock the true potential of the technique. Unproductive and often unnecessary activities can eat into lab time, reducing productivity, increasing stress, and potentially impacting data quality. Open to all; this workshop will provide insights you can employ to improve efficiency in your laboratory while also reducing pressure on staff and increasing confidence in the results you report.
Speakers
Bert Woods Application Scientist
Agilent Technologies, Inc.
Joined the Agilent ICP-MS team in 2004, with previous employment in the semiconductor industry with Dominion Semiconductor (IBM/Toshiba) and Micron. Bert is a 1997 Chemistry graduate of Radford University in Virginia and an avid Washington DC Sports fan.
L. Craig Jones ICP-MS Application Scientist
Agilent Technologies, Inc.
Craig has been with Agilent for over 15 years as an ICP-MS applications scientist. He has been involved with multiple types of applications for ICP-MS, including environmental, pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, semiconductor, geologic, and clinical analyses, to name a few. Previous to Agilent, he worked in an environmental lab performing analysis and supervising both the inorganic and organic sections of the laboratory. In his spare time, Craig enjoys volunteering at the local marine science centre, mountain biking, hiking and relaxing at the beach. Craig obtained a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO.
