Experiment Design Automation helps Proteomics Lab Tackle Challenges of Dynamic Sample Processing
Teranode Corporation, the leading innovator of experiment design automation (XDA) software for the Life Sciences industry, today announced that St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital will use the company’s award-winning technology, TERANODE Design Suite (TDS), as an informatics solution for tracking complex laboratory experiments. TDS will be used by personnel as a laboratory information management system in its proteomics facility. The goal is to improve communication and coordination among lab personnel and streamline work on multiple projects undertaken by the facility.
In St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital proteomics lab, technicians working as a team are managing samples for as many as 10 projects at any given time. While each project may start with a handful of samples, these samples quickly multiply into thousands of samples for any one project. Tracking the samples and collected data is always a challenge further complicated by coordinating the hand-off of samples between team members. A constant stream of new samples, in addition to changing formatting on sample arrays, puts a strain on the lab’s ability to efficiently track experiments. The proteomics lab has chosen TDS to automate tasks associated with dynamic formatting and data tracking historically managed by manual processes. TERANODE Design Suite provides a visual protocol designer with intelligent objects that automates the time-consuming tasks of collating, integrating, and validating data from lab procedures and the hand-offs between personnel.
“The proteomics lab wants to provide the best services possible to our investigators. Enabling the lab with tools that improve sample tracking and communication between lab personnel is an important factor in achieving that goal,” said Dr. Clive Slaughter, Assistant Director of the Hartwell Center for Bioinformatics and Biotechnology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. “To tackle the challenge, we wanted a flexible informatics system that would meet the dynamic requirements of our project work and be cost-effective to deploy.”
TERANODE Design Suite will enable the following functions for the lab:
- Automate sample tracking tasks for lab projects;
- Provide flexible formatting of sample arrays for lab personnel;
- Provide a reliable means for communicating data;
- Provide standardization of best practices in protocol design.
“We’re honored to be working with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a leader in the use of biotechnology for fundamental biomedical research. Their work in the area of infectious diseases and cancer benefit patient care globally,” said Joseph Duncan, CEO for Teranode. “Our work with the proteomics lab demonstrates the value of experiment design automation (XDA) software to enable historically manual tasks to be automated without curbing the flexibility of lab projects.”
About St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is internationally recognized for its pioneering work in finding cures and saving children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases. Founded by late entertainer Danny Thomas and based in Memphis, Tenn., St. Jude freely shares its discoveries with scientific and medical communities around the world. No family ever pays for treatments not covered by insurance, and families without insurance are never asked to pay. St. Jude is financially supported by ALSAC, its fundraising organization.
About TERANODE Design Suite
TERANODE Design Suite is an experiment design automation software that combines computational and experimental biology to automate tasks associated with planning, managing, and analyzing experiments. TERANODE Design Suite is a visual tool and platform that allows protocols and biological systems to be described, simulated, and automatically linked to create higher value physical experiments for the benefit of accelerated R&D.
About Teranode Corporation
Teranode Corporation, headquartered in Seattle, WA, is the leading innovator of experiment design automation (XDA) software to improve the value of experiments for the benefit of accelerated R&D. The company, founded in 2002 to revolutionize the role that computing plays in Life Sciences, began with technologies invented by the founders at the University of Washington. TERANODE Design Suite is being used by leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology, research, and academic organizations including Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. www.teranode.com
