2019 INFORMATICS RESOURCE GUIDE Questions to Ask When Buying Cloud Computing for the Laboratory Laboratory Informatics Using LIMS to Address Core LIMS Meets the Modern Laboratory Labs’ Workflows LIMS: Flexible Data Management Selecting a SaaS LIMS Informatics Resource Guide Questions to Should I invest in a cloud-based system? Many potential users have concerns about security when storing their valuable lab data in the cloud. However, vendors who offer Ask When cloud-based LIMS have many security measures in place and are continually monitoring and acting upon potential threats. Cloud-based solutions might end up being more secure than Buying storage on your lab’s in-house servers. In addition to security, cloud-based systems offer automated and flexible backups to ensure that you never lose your data. Storage capabilities of Laboratory cloud-based systems can also be expanded as the data needs of the lab grow. Will I need to purchase specific instruments Informatics to integrate them with my LIMS? aboratory information management systems (LIMS) are computer programs used to facilitate laboratory Many laboratory instrument manufacturers are teaming up with Loperations. They can be used for sample management, LIMS programmers to integrate their instrument monitoring instrument integration and monitoring, data collection, into LIMS platforms. However, other manufacturers continue to compliance, quality assurance, experiment documentation, develop proprietary instruments that require their own software and many other tasks. LIMS form a central database where solutions. In other cases, monitoring devices can be added to lab members can access all laboratory information, increasing instruments, allowing for integration of instrument monitoring transparency and efficiency within your lab. for multiple units into a single interface. Consult with the LIMS vendor to determine if your instruments will be compatible with How do I know if an adaptable LIMS is the software. Before purchasing any new instruments, check right for my lab? whether they will be compatible with your LIMS. LIMSs can be purchased as out-of-the-box solutions designed to work for your lab with complete functionality. However, many PURCHASING TIP vendors also offer adaptable LIMSs that can be configured to When purchasing a LIMS, look for software that is highly the users’ needs and can be changed in the future as the data configurable. When implementing the system, you’ll want management needs of the laboratory change. These systems to be able to tailor the software to your needs and workflows eliminate unnecessary functions, simplifying the software for rather than being confined to its pre-set capabilities. Over the end user. The right system will depend on the complexity time, configurable software will be able to adapt as your needs of the functions required. If your needs are simpler, an adaptable change without having to implement a new system. solution might be a better fit for your lab. Lab Manager 2 Informatics Resource Guide research, to cover both lab samples and processes. For decades, LIMSs focused on the former, while electronic LIMS Meets laboratory notebooks (ELNs) handled the latter. When first developed, LIMSs and ELNs were built the Modern independently and their functions didn’t meet unless the customers wanted both types of software. At this point, the vendors would try to figure out how to make the software Laboratory packages work together. The latest trends in laboratory information Today, through mergers, acquisitions, and technology management systems acquisition, most major LIMS developers incorporate at least some aspects of laboratory execution software (LES), ELNs, By Angelo DePalma, PhD database, or supervisory functions into their LIMSs. aboratory information management systems (LIMS) One goal of both ELNs and LIMSs is elimination of nonvalue- have evolved toward greater accessibility, functionality, added laboratory activities, of which paperwork is a substantial Land interconnectivity, to a degree that could not be but seemingly entrenched component. Many lab workers foreseen (or have been possible) when LIMSs were first still use paper notebooks, even when they have high-level introduced. In the early 1980s, when LIMSs first emerged, information systems in place. Thus, the elimination of programmers were working with small mainframes or paperwork became a common driver for adoption of both ELNs minicomputers and didn’t have Oracle databases, Windows, and LIMSs, which further drove their integration. or microcomputers. The challenge was sample management, and that’s what LIMSs were designed to handle. Another idea, that individual lab processes were part of a larger organic whole, made integration of LIMS and ELN products At the time, the pharmaceutical industry was just even more appealing. LIMS should not exist in silos as this adopting large compound libraries for drug discovery software is highly interrelated and can leverage common and combinatorial chemistry to probe active molecules functionality. In addition, customers want a single vendor for all within those molecule collections. As more drug discovery their software, so it makes sense to have LIMS, ELN, and LES organizations adopted these tools, labs became inundated available under a single software platform. with samples, sometimes needing to process thousands of unique samples per week. Democratizing complexity To this day, a great deal of the effort in lab automation, As LIMSs began losing their exclusive focus on samples, particularly on the software side, attempts to manage such they also underwent what this column has termed (with Lab Manager 3 Informatics Resource Guide respect to instrumentation) “democratization”— reduced LIMS are also able to connect to ELNs to provide a complete complexity leading to improved usability and accessibility picture of quality data and how it is acquired. ELNs track each by ordinary users. step in the process so that if a product is out-of-specification, the manufacturer can track back to the specific production lot as well This new class of products, or “lean” LIMS, provides an as how the product was tested. alternative to the traditional pharmaceutical LIMSs, which are highly loaded and require significant investment. The traditional Modern LIMSs have a good deal of ELN functionality already software also has many modules and stacks required for built in, but some customers, prefer a dedicated ELN. functionalities, which can scare many users. A LIMS should be intuitive to use. Into the cloud Cross-functionality—to a point The question of whether to host a LIMS (or any data-intensive application) locally, at or near the point of use, versus keeping Integration with third-party laboratory and process software it in the cloud has pretty much been settled. Drug companies, has long been a goal for LIMS companies. Early on, developers which churn out thousands of patents per year and with a keen were constrained by computing power, limitations in supervisory sense of intellectual property ownership, were at one time software, and the proprietary nature of such products. Those reluctant to let their data “out.” Today, the preference is for limitations are disappearing as interface standards emerge and cloud-based data repositories. suppliers recognize that staying in business requires them to accept the reality of multi-sourcing for laboratory information Cloud-based LIMSs offer better performance, better disaster products. recovery, greater redundancy, superior security and data integrity, and easier scaling with very little capital investment. LIMS are also becoming more tightly integrated into In addition, using the software-as-a-service model means that instrumentation and non-LIMS information management vendors are increasingly involved, and labs are able to subscribe to systems such as ERP (enterprise resource planning) and SAP software rather than purchasing, which can help when budgeting. (systems applications and products). Product Spotlight: Welcome to Digital Lab Solutions from Eppendorf We believe, that digital transformation is a game changer, enabling us to focus on the high value tasks by efficiently supporting the day-to-day duties. The combination of latest Internet-of- Things technology, data analytics methods and superior manufacturing capabilities will improve the impact of your lab. Learn more about how you can evolve yourself and your lab with our digital solutions for device management and lab information management. One step further towards your future lab. Learn More Lab Manager 4 Informatics Resource Guide In many ways, adaptable means personalized. Vendors can LIMS: configure your LIMS to the way you want to work. When something is easy to configure and adapt, it leads to less headaches for the end user. That could be a mantra for an Flexible Data adaptable LIMS—fewer headaches. Create your own flow Management Adaptable LIMS can handle and track protocols without locking users into a rigid workflow. For example, the software The adage of “adapt or die” applies to can allow the objects handled by the LIMS to be linked to a laboratory information management each other with little restriction and can also allow these system (LIMS) just as it does to evolution objects to be used independently. This ability allows the LIMS to be phased into a lab incrementally and independently of by Mike May, PhD a workflow. An adaptable LIMS should fit seamlessly into a laboratory’s operations and implementation should not be daptability in a LIMS can mean adjusting it for the disruptive for the lab. way a researcher works or accommodating changing Aneeds in a lab, such as handling data from new devices Drag and drop configurations can make it easy to set up more added to a workflow. In order to be accepted, a LIMS needs to complex procedures. Vendors are also creating development be capable of handling projects that require innovative solutions methods that let you communicate with instruments using and quick development. drivers and design the interface the way you want. An adaptable LIMS can also save money and reduce the risk of So, when you think “adaptable” in a LIMS, decide what you being out of compliance.