March 23, 2020 - Meeting ISBER Recommendations for Biobank Management
LIMS can contribute significantly to the efficient management of any biobank facility. With every aspect of specimen handling from collection through storage, processing, distribution, and eventual disposal to be considered as well as the need to manage all the associated data and information, ISBER (International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories) has published a set of recommendations (the ISBER Best Practices: Recommendations for Repositories Fourth Edition) for the most effective practices for managing biological and environmental specimen collections and repositories. ISBER has also created a very useful self-assessment tool to allow biobanks to evaluate how well their facilities already comply with the best practices. In a recent webinar Autoscribe Informatics explained how the Matrix Gemini Biobank Manager configuration addresses the recommendations from ISBER. This webinar is still available to view.March 17, 2020 - SynBioBeta | Benching & Pairwise – The Future of Agriculture
Through SynBioBeta's webinar series, Benchling and Pairwise came together to discuss how gene editing allows the production of new and improved crops that are more sustainable, more nutritious, and more affordable. We also covered the challenges and opportunities for using gene editing to bring better food to market. Watch Now:
March 17, 2020 - Tips for Upgrading Your Waters Empower System
Waters Empower 3 is a chromatography data system (CDS) that links to chromatographic instruments to help facilitate management of chromatography test results through data acquisition, processing, reporting and distribution. Empower 3 generates lots of data with complex calculations and detailed reports and has several tools that address compliance and data integrity concerns such as electronic signatures and audit trails. Waters Empower 3 is continuously upgraded to meet the changing needs of laboratories across all industries – pharmaceutical QC/RD, food and beverage, oil and gas, petrochemical, water and environmental, manufacturing, contract labs, and more. Each new feature release of Empower 3 contains new functionality that is built upon feedback and customer input from these sectors and could thus bring significant benefits to the Laboratory user.[Read More]
March 17, 2020 - The Dirty Secret of LIMS Implementations
I’m not going to sugarcoat this…LIMS implementations can suck at first. The vendors may not tell you that in their seamless demos or slick PowerPoint presentations, but business practices will change throughout the whole organization, some things may take longer than they did before, and almost everyone’s likely to hate the new system. These considerable changes can lead to employee confusion, resistance, and a breakdown in communications. This has the potential to lower the system’s value and negatively impact your project’s ROI. So, how do you effectively make the best of the situation? In this blog, we’ll advocate for well-established, effective Organizational Change Management (OCM) practices that can ease the pain of LIMS implementations and manage the changes that go along with a new enterprise application. OCM won’t help you avoid the pain altogether, but at least everyone will know that there’s a plan and it has an end point. [Read More]March 10, 2020 - QLIMS for Cannabis Companies – Part 2 of 3: Research and Analytical Labs
The next part in our series will focus on how QLIMS can help with the extraction, research and testing of medical cannabis, with a focus on data management, quality, inventory, stability testing and regulatory standards.
Medical Cannabis Testing & Quality Assurance
With the large number of cultivation facilities currently set up or in the process of being implemented across the country, Medical Cannabis testing labs will see a massive magnitude of samples that will require testing and processing will be difficult to manage with just spreadsheets or paper-based systems.…
March 10, 2020 - Experience More From Your LIMS Vendor – Part 2: Implementation Phase
It is an understatement to say that the implementation phase of a laboratory information management system (LIMS) is critical to the success of your laboratory. Your LIMS is your lab’s central nervous system, so the implementation must be done right. And, it’s during this phase that the quality of your LIMS vendor partnership will become apparent - either as one that can support your current and future needs or as one that will leave you struggling for years to come.[Read More]
March 10, 2020 - Software as a Biotechnology: How Benchling Extensions and Integrations Drive Life Sciences R&D
Modern life science R&D is producing data of a much greater quantity and complexity than ever before. R&D teams at small biotechs and large pharmas alike need a tech stack that allows them to flexibly extend software tools and and integrate them with one another and with lab hardware.…
March 10, 2020 - Building a Strong Data Foundation to Get Machine Learning and Automation Right
Benchling is a life sciences R&D software platform. Our clients include 12 of the top 25 pharmaceutical companies, emerging biotechs, and companies across a variety of other industries. Our goal is to improve their scientists’ productivity with modern software. Given the world that artificial intelligence promises, our customers are really interested in how advanced data analysis and machine learning techniques can up-level their R&D efforts: from discovery, to lead optimization, process development, pre-clinical, and even IND filings. There’s no lack of enthusiasm to leverage these tools, so how do we get to that world?[Read More]
March 3, 2020 - National Institutes of Health (NIH) Research and Upcoming Events – March 2020
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is our nation’s medical research agency and strives to make scientific discoveries that improve health and save lives. Founded in 1870, the NIH conducts its own scientific research through its Intramural Research Program (IRP), which supports approximately 1,200 principal investigators and more than 4,000 postdoctoral fellows conducting basic, translational and clinical research. In this blog, we will highlight recent ground-breaking NIH research, while also providing links to upcoming NIH events designed to keep researchers abreast of the latest discoveries.[Read More]
February 25, 2020 - Benchtalk Volume 3: Applying Breakthrough Technologies in Life Science
Welcome to Benchtalk, a journal produced by Benchling. At Benchling, our mission is to accelerate life sciences for the benefit of humanity. As part of that mission, Benchling strives to engage the life sciences community in meaningful discussion and cross-discipline dialogue about the extraordinary goals of the field so that, together, we can work toward a better future. The quarterly Benchtalk Journal showcases the groundbreaking work of brilliant life scientists from academia to industry, facilitates discourse among members of the life sciences community, and connects them to revolutionary ideas. This season, Benchtalk is all about the impact that breakthrough technologies – from biological techniques, to software, to hardware – are having on life science, and how leading R&D organizations incorporate new tools into their work. In this volume, we showcase the thoughts of leading researchers and software experts (including some of our own) on how these breakthroughs are changing the nature of life science, especially as technological advancement accelerates.[Read More]
February 25, 2020 - QLIMS for Cannabis Companies – Part 1 of 3: Cultivation
In the lead up to ACannabis and AMCC 2020 conferences in March we are releasing a series of blog posts on how your organisation can implement laboratory informatics that can streamline your quality assurance processes right from cultivation to testing and finally manufacturing the medicinal cannabis product.
The first part of this series will focus on how QLIMS, Laboratory Information Management System, can help manage your cultivation facility and processes, with a focus on data management, quality, inventory and training management.
February 18, 2020 - Experience More from Your LIMS Vendor – Part 1: The Selection Process
Selecting your laboratory information management system (LIMS) is one of the most crucial decisions you will make for your lab and your company. Whether you need a LIMS to support a rapid period of growth, or you’re retiring aging infrastructure and want the assurances of a smooth, uninterrupted data migration and implementation, the LIMS partner you select should both address your current pain points and prepare you for the future.[Read More]
February 18, 2020 - Trends in FDA Data Integrity 483s and Warning Letters for Pharmaceutical Companies
The manufacture of pharmaceutical drugs is a highly complex process that involves advanced scientific analysis and instrumentation at all stages of production and storage. In order to guarantee the safety and efficacy of both human and veterinary drugs, the FDA strives to verify data integrity in all cGMP records used to document and guide the manufacturing process. The FDA first identified failures in data governance and data integrity in the year 2000 with a warning letter issued to Schein Pharmaceuticals that cited lack of proper controls over computerized laboratory systems. In the years since, the FDA focus on compliance with data integrity regulations in facility inspections has increased significantly. We have written extensively about how the FDA defines data integrity and the current FDA regulations and guidance in this area.[Read More]
February 18, 2020 - Find Your Informatics Match ❤️
The early part of February has conditioned us all to celebrate finding our perfect match. But if you haven’t found a match, this time of year can be hard. If you’re reading this, we’re going to assume that you’re here looking for your laboratory informatics match. In today’s world, we have many options for finding a match. You might get set up by a friend, via referral. You might end up in an arranged partnership, via merger or acquisition. You might try online dating, if you have a high tolerance for information overload from all those demos. After all that, you might engage a matchmaker, someone who gets to know your needs and is with you through the whole process of finding your perfect laboratory informatics match.[Read More]
February 11, 2020 - What to look for when using a LIMS to help with ISO 17025 for starters
This blog will give you an introduction into the basics of ISO 17025 and just some of the requirements which LIMS can help with.
What is ISO 18025?
ISO 17025 is a laboratory accreditation standard that all testing and calibration laboratories vie to achieve to prove their technical competence in performing an array of testing, calibration and measurements for standard, non-standard and laboratory-developed methods.…
