Laboratory Digitalisation – “a paradigm shift in productivity or just another failed experiment?”
Open up any scientific magazine or online resource and we are presented with articles about the Lab-of-the-Future, connected laboratories, the Internet of Things (IoT) or Internet of Laboratory Things (IoLT) and how the digital revolution will improve productivity in laboratories and change our way of working forever!
However, on the ground, many laboratories have not yet joined this digital revolution or maybe feel left behind, or are unsure of a winning strategy and/or simply do not know when to take the plunge into this revolution with an applicable and affordable solution?
When laboratory instruments first started producing digital files, they were simply stored on a local computer floppy disk. Fast-forward to 2021 and the floppy disk is replaced with a USB storage stick. While some laboratories might see the above comments as outdated, the truth is that many labs still rely on local data file storage for simplicity and cost effectiveness, viewing more automated networked systems as too complex and costly.
Whilst, Electronic Lab Notebooks (ELNs) and Laboratory Information Management systems (LIMS) have been a success and furthered the proliferation of digital information generated by the laboratory, it is noteworthy that connectivity to actual common bench lab instruments in a networked way is still somewhat limited commercially? Many critical laboratory services are too small for classical LIMS and ELN executions yet could benefit significantly from digitalisation and automation at the bench instrument level.
As is so often the case, it is start-up companies, disruptors, or experts with a different perspective that can often make the breakthrough in innovation in established industries. Perhaps a good example of this is the innovative, digital lab and automation company, Applied Scientific Technologies (AST). Who with their Digital Enabled Formulation Toolkit (Deft), with significant input from blue chip industrial lab users and targeted at the bench scientist in chemical formulation, material sciences, process chemistry and R&D labs, have developed and offer an off-the-shelf, scalable, affordable, integrated and connected lab environment toolset.
Deft captures all workflow, experimental design and instrument process data providing reproducibility and the ‘information gap’ when comparing manually made bench formulations. At the heart of the system is the Deft Gateway which combines Bluetooth lab instrument connectivity via SmartTabs with Wi-Fi to connect any legacy laboratory instrument to a secure network, all controlled from within an iOS or Android control App supplied on a tablet. Deft is LIMS and ELN compliant or can be used as a stand-alone system.
For many laboratories, the Lab-of-the-Future and laboratory digitalisation revolution is a conundrum, a Betamax v’s VHS storyline? If digitalisation is going to offer the rewards in productivity gains and wealth creation through scientific endeavour, especially in the post-COVID era, we need industry standards & to improve connectivity of the actual lab instruments in use by the bench scientist, in the average laboratory and at a technical level & price point which is executable and affordable for the majority of laboratories.
In the era of pandemics, lockdowns, social distancing work practices and changes to R&D working in industrial labs around the world, it might be that we need to realise a paradigm shift in productivity gain in the laboratory sooner rather than later or we may well be facing more than just a failed experiment!
First published in the Chemical Industry Journal UK, September 2021 issue 23, pp63-64.
Author: Dr. Dale Charlton is an expert in laboratory & automation applications for over 35yrs and offers consultancy and scientific marketing services to many small-medium sized B2B enterprises.
