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So, you think to yourself: “I need an ELN!” You see the use of “ELN” here, “E notebook” there and occasionally the term “paper-on-glass” somewhere over there. How do you begin to start looking for the right electronic solution, and…

It’s an age-old debate: are two heads really better than one? At IDBS, we’ve long advocated bringing in the best possible expertise to make something better… but don’t just take our word for it. Fruitful partnerships are everywhere you look…

When R&D data is managed in silos, it’s inevitable that transcription errors and inaccuracies will occur especially when moving data between systems, people and organizations. The problems seem obvious, don’t they? When data is spread across multiple systems, the ability…

At IDBS, we’re delighted that Achillion Pharmaceuticals has decided to use E-WorkBook for their electronic laboratory data capture. With E-WorkBook, we will help Achillion improve data capture, knowledge sharing and management across a number of sites and locations.  But the…

Our purpose: ‘To provide the best cloud-based R&D technology and solutions to the world’s most forward-thinking companies, helping them solve global challenges.’ When you go to work each day, we think you should be able to answer these three simple…

In organic synthetic reactions, chemists often have to use hazardous reagents that may be toxic, lachrymatory, pyrophoric or potentially explosive. Such reagents need to be treated with caution, and the chemist is obliged to complete a risk assessment before being…

Chemists need to be able to enter data quickly and easily, and to be able to see the changes to respective calculations as values are changed. The stoichiometry interface of our web-based E-WorkBook Chemistry lab notebook is undergoing a re-design…

Organic reagents come in a wide variety of forms – and many of these will be often be liquids (which may have a density). Reagents may also be solutions in a solvent e.g. 2M BuLi in THF, or have a…

Outsourcing software development is a well-established industry trend. After all, “there’s always more to build than we have time or resources to build – always” (Jeff Patton,User Story Mapping, 2014). Outsourcing partners can be found all over the world, but…

When a chemist plans a new experiment, the first thing they are likely to do is to draw the reaction. This step, which seems so easy on paper, can be a tedious electronic task which often results in errors …

It’s been a busy summer and our development team have been working hard to build upon the E-WorkBook chemistry notebook capabilities, provided in the 10.1.2 release. We will be writing more about these features in coming blog posts, but briefly…

Historically, when synthetic chemists worked in paper notebooks, entire experiments or parts of procedures would often be repeated. Even for new reactions, the procedures of aqueous workup and purification were often similar. Consequently, a significant amount of time in the…

The ability to reference chemical structures and associated data from a third-party source is an essential feature of any electronic chemistry notebook. No one wants to have to go to a paper catalog or open a separate system to search…

Since the release of the E‑WorkBook 10.1.2 Chemistry ELN, we have been busy augmenting the core features of the stoichiometry table. One of the enhancements we have recently implemented is the calculations of solvent concentration, with the ability to determine…

Chemists commonly need to use non-standard characters during procedure write-up, which may include Greek characters in chemical names and ‘as’ symbols for reaction conditions. Many text editors support these but the functionality is often hidden away, requiring the use to…

We’re very pleased to announce that the E-WorkBook Chemistry ELN has been released with v10.1.2 of E‑WorkBook in July. Considering we started from just design documents in January, the chemistry development team has worked hard to provide the user with…

IDBS has been developing a number of strategic partnerships over the past three years. This is part of our core strategy to ensure that our customers get the most appropriate tools and solutions to support their very diverse and scientifically…

We recently hosted a Special Interest Group meeting in Munich where, with a group of customers, we discussed how users can really get the most out of E-WorkBook. We focussed primarily on the web client, and explained how users can…

We were delighted to attend the Elrigfr conference in May, where we shared IDBS experience about Lab Automation, Formulation & Phenotypic screening. At the conference, we particularly enjoyed the Phenotypic Screening session, which featured presentations from NeoVirTech, Servier and…

We frequently store and update data within IT systems. But, do we ever truly consider what it will take to find this data when we need it again – in a week, a month, or even a year later? Consider…

Sometimes, when writing up a synthetic chemical reaction in your notebook, you might need to go back and update the chemical structures that were originally drawn – perhaps because of some small error such as forgetting to add an atom…

Whether you are creating novel molecules, or batches of re-synthesised compounds, the last step in the process is usually to register this compound to your corporate compound management system. Traditionally, this meant logging in a different system than the ELN…

It is often very time consuming to draw molecules for well-known reagents, but often the chemical structure is needed to derive the molecular mass for stoichiometric calculations. Also, a chemist might sometimes scan barcoded containers from their inventory system to…

Earlier we wrote about the auto-text feature we provide in E-Workbook’s electronic notebook for chemists, which allows you to add predefined phrases to the procedure write-up with a single click. This functionality is now even more powerful! These phrases consist…

Traditionally, when you needed to work out the quantities of reagents required for a synthetic reaction, your best ally used to be a piece of paper, your calculator and your integral knowledge of the formulae for calculating the required quantities…

As a synthetic chemist, when you are recording your experimental data in a notebook, there are multiple data elements to account for each reacting component i.e. chemical name, molecular formula, molecular weight, mass or volume, number of moles, number of…

R&D costs are increasing. In the pharma industry alone, the average cost of developing a new prescription medicine and getting it approved for market is estimated to be $2.6 billion. Faced with prohibitive costs and lengthy timeframes – this process…

One of the things that all of our chemistry customers seem to agree on is the utility and value of the auto-text features that we provided in the desktop version of our E‑WorkBook chemistry ELN, for assistance in the writing…

Historically, IDBS developed its own chemistry technology internally, which was successfully used to support our E‑WorkBook chemistry ELN and ActivityBase screening platform. When transitioning to the web, we reviewed our approach and chose to partner with ChemAxon, who were able…

One of the many benefits of integrating ChemAxon’s Marvin JS and JChem web services technology into E‑WorkBook is the speed with which we can develop new electronic laboratory notebook solutions which have chemical intelligence built in – taking our chemistry…

When we started working on the E‑WorkBook Chemistry project for bringing chemistry functionalities to the web notebook, it was clear to us that we wanted it to be a tool that would be useful and intuitive to chemists – something…

Industry is moving away from traditional heavyweight desktop solutions (with all the support and maintenance overhead they entail), towards more lightweight, web-based solutions. ChemAxon’s Marvin JS (JavaScript) chemical structure editor, used directly in the E‑WorkBook chemistry…

Scientific research is changing. In order to increase the time to market, researchers want to break down the silos between departments, simplify the way they work and focus on doing science. However, their biggest frustration (especially in chemical research) is…

The E-WorkBook Chemistry ELN is getting a new look and feel! As part of the transition of functionality to the web-based E‑WorkBook client, we’re completely re-designing the user interface to make it simpler and easier to use for chemists. A…

Chemists are always working with an end goal in mind – to conduct research efficiently and to reach a desired result. They need tools to plan, execute and record reactions, with access to historical experimental results to find new synthetic…

We believe that ‘Cloud is the future of R&D’. At Bio-It World 2016 in Boston, industry experts agreed with us! Labs of all sizes are increasingly realizing a raft of benefits the cloud can deliver, especially with regards to reducing…

Specialized research and development (R&D) labs including contract organizations (CROs, CMOs etc.) in all sectors are under extreme pressure to develop new formulations quickly (as fast as possible) and effectively (as close to specification as possible). Responding to requests from…

The scenario is sadly only too familiar: management has decided on a project to transform the business that is ultimately unsuccessful. It’s true, companies need to adapt to keep up with new technologies and ideas, but, according to Forbes…

Breakthrough discoveries in research and development (R&D) are rarely a single individual’s feat. Collaboration paves the way for accelerated advancements, but most often comes up against concerns around data sharing security and the protection of intellectual property (IP). It’s…

Research and Development informatics is not that different to any other area, it is full of tools and software that are all given TLA’s (three letter acronyms) or even FLA’s (four letter acronyms). This is in response to a history…

At IDBS, we often speak about the significant competitive pressures that R&D organizations must tackle in today’s business environment. In this challenging global market, the established players must find new ways to deliver more innovation, cut costs, fend off competitors…

Many companies today are operating a balanced approach to target and phenotypic assays, to try to optimize for disease relevance and throughput. Last week my blog post set the scene on the HCS landscape, but with new phenotypic assay formats…

Prior to the 1980s the vast majority of drug discovery was performed on tissues, cells or living organisms, where the tests looked for how compounds effected the phenotype. Since then the industry has adopted in-vitro target based approaches, leveraging advancements…

IDBS have just returned from a productive and enjoyable trip to the Smartlab Exchange conference in Munich. The event provided the usual eclectic mix of attendees, speakers and exhibitors all combined together resulting in a successful two days for all…

Today’s bioanalytical (BA) scientists find themselves under a deluge of data. It’s no bad thing as this valuable asset is driving research and development (R&D) forward, but it’s only useful if that information is stored and curated consistently. Paper-based processes…

We’ve been gathering feedback, reviewing market trends, and meeting with customers and partners alike to drive our development priorities for the upcoming year. With the release of 10.1 in January, we’ve brought even more key functionality to the web and…

This is a question that is asked more often than you might think – and if it isn’t asked it should be asked whenever a project kicks off. So what to do – first of all you’ve got to understand…

As oil prices tumble below $40 a barrel, the upstream finds itself with significant challenges in terms of managing exploration and production costs, as well as the loss of IP due to downsizing. The greener alternative of biofuels (which competes…

As an IT company I want to make excellent software So that lots of customers will decide to buy our products. This is what we call a user story; a product requirement written from the point of view of the…

2015 has been a busy year for IDBS, with the launch of E-WorkBook 10, our flagship research tool, and several customer and partner events across the world. These include Connect Philadelphia and our Community Forum series. For us, connecting with…

I’ve worked with a number of customers on their vision for a ‘lab of the future’, but what does that really mean for bioprocess manufacturing? Despite the advances in data management technology, the prevalence of paper-based systems in biomanufacturing is…

Recently we’ve discussed the changing nature of the research and development (R&D) business model and the advent of virtualized research. Across different industries as varied as pharmaceuticals, consumer goods and energy, organizations are motivated by a common drive to innovate…

Today, R&D is carried out by a raft of research stakeholders ranging from academia and contract research organizations (CROs) to contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs) and oil and gas service providers. We’re entering the realm of virtualized R&D with teams from…

Silicon Valley is a beacon of cutting-edge tech development. It conjures up images of agile, disruptive startups taking on the world and winning with their entrepreneurial gusto. It’s where category-defining tech innovators like Apple, Google, Kiip and Lyft’ have made…

Organizations today are under a huge amount of pressure to improve efficiency and reduce costs. This means that business practices and how organizations want to capture and view their data are changing. In some cases, organizations are being asked to…

The TPP trade agreement involves 12 Pacific Rim nations accounting for 40% of the global economy including the US and Japan – with an accumulated population of roughly 800 million people. While business has broadly supported the deal and the…

The UK has tightened regulation for clinical trials in recent years. Reaction from the industry has been strong, with some suggesting legislation and high costs will kill off research and development (R&D) innovation and clinical research in the UK …

Pharmaceutical and chemistry-related businesses have bemoaned the negative impact of regulation on innovation and, more recently, a decision to cut $2.4bn from the European Commission’s flagship science research program, Horizon 2020. In contrast, the US aims to increase its National…

The pitfalls of automating the past While moving to electronic systems for scientific data management brings clear benefits, the risks for organizations is that implementation seeks to automate past, paper-based processes. The result is that data goes from being locked…

When it comes to research and development (R&D), money talks. More specifically, cost will always play a role in the type of technologies used in the lab – and the way those technologies are used. As the media has often…

Research and Development (R&D) organizations are becoming more and more focused on innovation. In doing so, they are increasingly opening up their research infrastructures, forming cross-disciplinary diverse teams. The days of two or three pharmaceutical chemistry scientists sitting…

As outsourcing becomes more prevalent across scientific domains, and in the bioanalysis sphere in particular, the importance of effective collaboration tools has come to the forefront. More and more companies are turning to external providers to help cut costs and…

For many scientific operations, day-to-day processes revolve around running assays, getting results and verifying that everything was completed according to the protocol. The challenge inherent in this has been the retrospective approach to quality control (QC). Today’s…

Process development groups face challenges on several fronts: quickly developing and transferring robust processes, constant optimization, cutting down on errors and saving time and money. But with research and development (R&D) spend in many parts of the world hitting a…

What struck you most about this year’s IDBS Connect? Was it the news about the new collaboration, search and inventory management tools announced on the first day? Was it hearing customers in both the life sciences and industrial sectors share…

At the heart of research lies innovation. And at the heart of innovation lies disruptive change. In previous posts we’ve looked at the disruptive power of trends within IP protection and prosecution; how lab automation is changing the way R&D is done and…

For some R&D decision makers, the ‘lab of the future’ conjures up images of endless cost and resources diverted to new and complex systems. To others the issue of mobility is at the forefront -like Pandora’s Box – best left…

In our latest guest blog, intellectual property (IP) lawyer, Andrés Jaramillo-Mejía talks us through the principles underpinning IP law and the need for reliable and robust documentation. Over two centuries of multilateral agreements and a host of supranational accords and…

Here at IDBS, we often talk about how we want to link data and people. But what do we really mean by that? It comes down to the fact that, data alone isn’t what drives innovation and delivers value to your…

Drivers such as the expiration of pharmaceutical patents, legal and regulatory reforms, and social and cost pressures have increased the value of intellectual property (IP). At the same time, new collaborative ways of working and the externalization of certain workflows…

A team of researchers recently published promising findings on ‘Eve’ – an artificially intelligent ‘robot scientist’ capable of screening potential drugs with almost no human input needed. Meanwhile, IBM’s artificially intelligent (AI) Watson system is seeing take-up among…

This month AstraZeneca announced a move towards externalizing its business model and working with partners in a bid to reduce research and development (R&D) spend. It’s a sign of the times, as the pharma and biotech industries find themselves under significant budget…

The ideal research and development (R&D) data management solution can be deployed across different teams, geographies and even be used with external stakeholders. But often the cost of deployment and training is daunting. You may not realize just how important…

We recently shared news about our internal day devoted to employee innovation – idbsCreate. We’re lucky to be able to count on a global team of motivated and talented individuals from our software development divisions through to sales, human resources and…

This year we’ll be heading to Philadelphia, USA from May 19 – 20. IDBS Connect is our premier annual customer event that brings together the most innovative and creative minds in the global research and development (R&D) sector. With both formal…

Research and development (R&D) is changing. And with concepts such as the ‘lab of the future’ and the ‘paperless lab’ becoming more common, it’s important to understand what these terms really mean in practice. The lab of the future is…

At the end of 2014, the entire staff of IDBS were given the opportunity to spend a day innovating. And when I say the entire staff, we mean everyone: from the front desk team all the way up to the…

The New Year is already in full swing and as we move wholeheartedly into 2015, a look into the crystal ball shows exciting developments for research and development (R&D) across all domains. Will this be the year that scientists cure…

The holidays are upon us and, in among the tinsel and turkey, the end of the year is just around the corner. Before the clock strikes midnight to usher in 2015, let’s take a quick look back at just a…

Drug development in the UK took center stage recently, as life sciences minister George Freeman set out his initiatives to make Britain “the best place in the world to get quicker access for patients to innovative medicines”. The Government also announced…

The move towards automation has been a key trend in the pharma and biotech sectors. We’ve seen the robotic handling and processing of samples move from high-throughput screening domains onto the discovery bench. Almost every lab now has a liquid…

Data. It’s everywhere and every day, more and more is being generated by scientists in research and development (R&D) cell culture labs. This data is a highly valuable asset so long as it can be accessed and linked together efficiently…

We are bombarded with tips and tricks for living a healthier lifestyle every single day. In recent years we have seen a shift in attitudes from fast food to clean living. Nowadays, it’s chic to eat healthily: kale is our…

The oil and gas industry is essential to us all. It heats our homes, provides fuel for transport and produces many related products which enhance our day-to-day lives. But what goes on behind the scenes to ensure we have a constant…

Biopharmaceutical professionals will be familiar with the scientists’ lament about the amount of time they waste trying to track down data or, worse still, having to re-run experiments because of missing data. The development of biological therapeutics is multifaceted by…

The advancement of technology used in everyday life occurs at a tremendous rate. Now take that speed of change and apply it to the laboratory. Keeping pace is a challenge for anyone creating informatics for scientists, researchers, engineers and analysts…

With the right time, the right data analytics and the right expertize, bringing genomics to the bedside can become a reality. The ambition and vision is there, but major challenges still lie ahead. What needs to happen in genomic medicine…

Ask any Italian how they like their pasta cooked and they’ll say ‘al dente’. Most trained chefs rely on taste and many throw it against the wall to see if it sticks as a measure of ‘cooked’. This method doesn’t…

Millennials will represent 40% of the total US working population by 2020 – that’s 86 million people. This group has never known a world without the internet and will be more tech-savvy than any working generation before it. Research and development…

Nowadays, trying to cover the entire research and development (R&D) life cycle in-house makes little economic sense. Externalization is viewed as an effective way of dealing with the twin challenges of managing the immense amount of data generated by modern…

Fostering and driving collaboration across continents and businesses is no small feat. Data is at the heart of scientific discovery and product development. It must be the foundation on which global B2B working partnerships are built and managed. Scientists need…

Lab technology has gradually become the grease to the wheels of R&D teams. Next generation tools will be essential in dealing with the R&D challenges of tomorrow. A number of leading thinkers at our recent Connect conference shared their thoughts…

Improving productivity and efficiency through business change and investments in software are high on the agenda. But without sufficient insight into the current, ‘as-is’ state of operations, delivering on promised change can be difficult. The successful deployment or implementation…

A recent story in Scientific American, Twitter to Release All Tweets to Scientists, explores the concept of harnessing historical tweets to advance research. This is an interesting notion which would certainly open the door to massive, longitudinal data sets. In theory…

Another year, another fantastic conference. Connect 2014 took place in London last week and was a truly international event, attracting more of our clients, industry speakers and R&D experts from around the world than ever before. It was also an opportunity to…

In this digital era, the power of data is unquestionable, but it has to be good quality data to be valuable. Industries ranging from consumer goods to food and drink to pharma and biotech are dependent on the quality and…

With the evolution of science and technology over the past 20 years, many lab operations are well developed. Data processing, review and reporting still remains a burden. The use of electronic laboratory notebooks (ELNs) could be the key to reinvigorating…

The recent news that Boris Johnson has launched MedCity is a welcome investment in the life sciences arena. It is encouraging to see the well-known research hubs of the UK, namely Oxford and Cambridge, are included in the ‘Golden triangle’ with London…

There are some people who know a lot about a little.There are those who know a little about a lot.Then there are the few who know pretty much about everything there is to know across a huge range of market…

Going green is the new black. Everyone is getting involved, from the world’s Governments pledging to cut carbon emissions to supermarkets doing away with plastic bags. Being more environmentally friendly is high on the agenda and it’s no different in…

Translational science, research and development (R&D) organizations and hospitals are starting to break down the barriers to open data collaboration. Most recently we’ve seen Johnson & Johnson agree on clinical trial data sharing with Yale School of Medicine. Other pharma…

But can someone tell me where the last 25 years have gone? As Albert Einstein famously postulated, time is relative. But as I cast my mind back to when I founded IDBS back in 1989, can a quarter of a century really have…

Most of us are creatures of habit and the world of research and development (R&D) is no different. In my last blog I talked about how the historical practice of using paper laboratory notebooks to record experimental work had been productive but…

Most of us are creatures of habit, wedded to the familiar. The world of research and development (R&D) is no different. Historical practice has been to use paper laboratory notebooks to record experimental work. They’re good for writing down procedures…

This final blog in the series explores implementation strategies and considers the ultimate measure of a successful ELN implementation. Our two previous blogs (Where to start?,  Pilots, customizations and testing) discussed requirements, organizational buy-in, the challenge of change…

In this second of our series on insider secrets for successful ELN implementations we are looking at pilots, customizations and testing based on group feedback from our LinkedIn user group. Our first blog summarized the importance of understanding requirements, generating buy-in and…

IDBS recently asked a LinkedIn user group to discuss their real life experiences of electronic laboratory notebook (ELN) implementations. People shared some real gems (thanks for taking the time everyone) and we were so impressed, we’ve decided to pass on their wise…

In recent blogs, I examined how people are at the core of everything we do: delivering positive business change from the bench to the boardroom. I also suggested that knowledge is about personal interpretation of information ‘in the moment’. This final instalment considers whether…

Why knowledge management is all about people that know stuff In this second blog exploring how people are at the core of everything IDBS does, I want to consider the concept of ‘knowledge management’. Do we all share the same…

Delivering change – from the bench to the boardroom  Change is a concept close to IDBS’ heart. Our software and services are all about enabling science through positive change – helping clever people to create great things by freeing up…

Collaboration often lies at the heart of great innovations. So why should the thought of collaborating keep anyone up at night? Businesses which collaborate effectively usually flourish over those operating in splendid isolation. However, issues around data security and intellectual…

Horsemeat adulteration. Tainted milk. TB-infected beef. E. coli-infected bean sprouts. All shocking scandals which have left consumers reeling, confidence in food safety dipping further and the reputation of several household names, and even some nations, badly damaged. This most recent…

In a world of accelerating innovation, what is the future of enterprise data management? This fundamental question lies at the heart of the many challenges facing research and development (R&D) organizations today. Arriving at the right answer is critical to…

Andrew Jack’s recent article in the Financial Times touches on a hot debate across the pharmaceutical industry: should European and US drug companies be required to share clinical trials data with both researchers and competitors? Whilst many pharmaceutical and biotech firms…

A recent article in R&D Magazine saw researchers warning that a flood of unassembled genetic data is being produced much faster than current computers can turn it into useful information. The piece caught my eye as it highlights a critical issue: that…

The first ever comprehensive guide to experimental methodology for LC-MC bioanalysis (BA) is due to be published shortly. Edited by experts from Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, the Handbook of LC-MS Bioanalysis* is the result of an impressive collaboration from across…

Since the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) was passed by Congress and was signed into law by President Obama in September 2011, the clock has been ticking on the current ‘First-to-Invent’ system. This will be a major change for US scientists, especially…

Or is it the other way around? For nearly four decades if you had a lab and structured data to manage, you turned to a laboratory information management system (LIMS) to keep you sane. There appeared to be no better…

The more I travel, the more I realize that it’s not just language that can be a barrier to innovation. Knowing that English is the de facto language of science and the default international business language helps facilitate global communication and collaboration…

In my first blog on the food and drink industry, I looked at how the use of enterprise data management and electronic laboratory notebooks (ELNs) can deliver business benefit to data intensive environments as found in food and drink companies. This second…

In this first of two blogs relating to the food and drink industry, I’m reflecting on how businesses can shorten their own learning curve by drawing on other people’s experiences. Smart industries learn from each other and ideas which seem…

I recently commented on an article in Fierce BioTech which questioned whether true drug breakthroughs are a thing of the past. The FDA recently announced a new ‘breakthrough’ drug status to urge research and development (R&D) teams to get more ‘transformative’ drugs…

Recently I wrote an article for Bio IT World on how our ‘always-on’ digital world has us swimming in oceans of data. IBM’s view that up to 90% of today’s data has been generated in the last two years is astounding. For many, translating…

A fascinating New York Times article on how US cancer centers are racing to map patients’ genes has made me think how personalized/precision medicine can be approached successfully. The article refers to an “an arms race within the war on cancer” as…

The UK, as one of the world’s leading innovation centers, continues to be “good at generating great ideas in our universities but less good at turning them into products and businesses of the future.” This insight by David Willetts in…

According to James Joyce, mistakes are the portals of discovery. Good science means making mistakes. I recently read a great article that encourages just that; researchers to be open and honest about their scientific mistakes. It recognizes that information borne from mistakes…

Make science social! That’s our mantra as we head to Bio-IT World this week. People believe that certain individuals are natural communicators: politicians, media moguls, celebrities, but R&D scientists? Science – the search for shared knowledge – is actually all about…

I’ve been talking recently about the idea that every R&D organization has an inner superpower waiting to be unleashed – but most of them are yet to discover it. In fact, many are squandering their most fearsome competitive advantage. What is…

Why not make some great connections in Marseille this May? I don’t know about you, but I spend a large amount of my time in meetings. Sometimes they are pre-meeting meetings, mainly meeting meetings, and from time to time after-meeting post…

Exciting news from the US last week. The CommonWell Health Alliance, a not-for-profit trade association, has been formed with the promise of transforming the face of national healthcare. The headline act is to make health records easier to share and…

Part two of our ‘smart lab’ blog series around ‘getting the data right’ looks at managing external partner relationships and standardization challenges, based on the infographic released bySmart Lab Exchange (#SLABx). Managing Relationships with External Partners…

So much gets written about the woes of R&D. It’s time to stop. Think. Act. That’s our message at this year’s IQPC SmartLab’s conference in Munich (#SLABx) this week. Getting the data right inside today’s ‘SmartLab’ enables smarter enterprise R&D tomorrow and…

I urge you to read John Nosta’s recent article in Forbes. He explains how digital technology has failed to keep pace with clinical innovations. I like to compare it to how the telecoms industry was 20 years ago – data is…

Big Data is a Big Topic, fuelled by the impact of low cost genomic sequencing, adoption of electronic medical records and growth in personalized medicine approaches. From research to the clinic, translational medicine depends on properly integrated, managed and analyzed…

The recent news of an NHS driven DNA database for 100,000 subjects in the UK is a major statement of intent from the government. Following up on announcements regarding access to patient data via the Clinical Practice Research Database (CPRD…

A new collaborative data environment that will transform the world There’s nothing quite like the morning after a good party. It’s a rollercoaster of reflection, recovery and sometimes embarrassment. It’s also often a time of new resolutions. For many of…

Are too many square pegs and round holes getting in the way? With the increasing globalization of bioanalytical (BA) operations, there can’t be many labs anywhere in the world that aren’t looking for ways to improve their productivity and reduce…

Collaboration is everywhere these days–especially within the pharma industry. But getting it to work well relies on proper planning and co-operation that spans disciplines to allow better use of, and access to, data. A while ago we were planning a…

Could it be the next breakthrough in scientific collaboration? As a wise man once noted, science is the search for shared knowledge. And in my view it’s the word – share – that is the most important part of the process, especially…

The battle has long raged over the impact of nature (in the form of genetics) vs Nurture (in the form of environmental factors) on an individual’s susceptibility to disease. Clearly both play a huge part in deciding the expressed phenotype…

IDBS Guildford takes to two wheels to triumph in cycling challenge At IDBS we thrive on a little competition. And a fair number of us like cycling. So when we heard about the Surrey Cycle Challenge, a fun initiative to…

Amongst the companies providing fodder for booth trophy hunters, national dancers, alphorns and buckets of beer, what was one of the big buzzes at BIO 2012? Bioprocessing. Last year this area was just a zone, but it has fermented into…

Service Excellence Small Team of the Year Awards – the results are in This is my last blog for the IDBS Support Service Desk Institute Small Team of the Year Service Excellence Awards – now there’s a mouthful for the…

The IDBS Racy Ladies survive the Race for Life We would like to say a HUGE, ENORMOUS and MASSIVE thank you to everyone who made a donation. Your generosity really means a lot to us and to Cancer Research UK…

The ladies of IDBS prepare for The Race for Life Working at IDBS, we often have an insight into ongoing research that covers a vast range of serious illnesses. But few have quite the same impact as Cancer. It is…

…and the odd can of worms! There can be little doubt that the future for the pharma and R&D industries lies in open collaboration and innovation. And countless establishments are revising their IT strategies to take this into account to…

IDBS Support team shortlisted for major service award While I was thinking of ways to recognize all the improvements and achievements that the IDBS Support team have made over the past few years, one of my team, Jenny Perry, came…

It’s started as an eventful week! Back problems left me unable to move for two days and I picked up a chill the day before the Olympic Park Run, so I wasn’t feeling on top of the world. (Come on…

XLfit provides crucial analysis to keep the experiment of a lifetime on track for NASA Now you might say that I’m over the moon with the sheer scientific value that XLfit offers. And you’d be right. It integrates perfectly with the ever…

To be honest, I thought that marathons would be the highlight of my running career. After all, there aren’t that many bigger challenges. But then someone told me about the National Lottery Olympic Park Run – with only a few…

Friday January 20, 2012 was a proud day for the Healthcare team at IDBS as our new US Healthcare Center of Excellence was opened by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick in front of a crowd of local dignitaries, press and analysts…

How we use Web 2.0 methodology so you’ll never say this about IDBS In his last blog post, Chris Molloy highlighted reasons why accurate content is important. So when it comes to product documentation, getting accurate content is all there is…

I was interested to read the Review Public ‘Mea Culpas’ by Jon Cohen in the December 1stIssue of Technology Review. It covers the amount of scientific literature that gets withdrawn for reasons including inaccuracy, honest mistakes or … full blown…

R&D INFORMATICS: READINESS CHECKLIST Based on our analysis of the survey findings and the input of dozens of leading R&D organizations that we work with at IDBS, we’d like to propose the following practical strategies to help you tackle R&D…

I totally agree with Jonathan that iPad development forces you to think differently about the user experience. But I think the impact of the iPad is much greater than simply using your finger as the input device on a small screen. With…

This is part II of a series of blogs analyzing the results of our recent R&D Collaboration trends survey. See R&D Informatics – are you ready for 2012? for the first post. Reality of the R&D Informatics landscape It is often easy to…

In July 2011 we worked with Scientific Computing, R&D, and Drug Discovery & Developmentmagazines to survey almost 700 R&D professionals. The survey aimed to uncover the top challenges R&D centric organizations face in the quest for R&D collaboration, IP…

“We’ll always need to record and search through our research data but how we do this will never be the same.”  This is probably how the Apple iPad advert for an “iResearch” app would run. How true it will become…

I read with interest yesterday’s report in the Lancet highlighting the spiralling global costs of cancer treatment, with 12 million people diagnosed with cancer worldwide costing £185bn ($295bn) per year. The report goes on to say that most developed countries are spending…

NGS (next gen sequencing) can help in the delivery of personalised medicine and the understanding of disease – no doubt in my mind. But like all the things that have gone before – HTS (high throughput screening), Combinatorial Chemistry, molecular…

IDBS’ Enterprise Customers range from global enterprises to academic research institutions.  When we work with our customers to document their implementation experiences we hear a similar story, regardless of the industry sector or size of the organization. They all expected…

President Obama signed the America Invents Act into Law last Friday. So it’s all change at theUSPTO and with a handy 15% increase in fees too. But what does it mean to researchers, R&D organizations and their potential blockbuster data? The days of…

R&D is data-centric so why are we wasting so much time on reports? 60% of staff in all areas of R&D tell us that they cannot write reports to communicate with colleagues without complex access to multiple systems and yes…

Last Friday’s report in Reuters that less than 1% of US cancer patients get into clinical trials for new treatments tells a much wider story: that clinical trial and the real world clinical environment are often very different things. The conclusion of…

Sharing, analysing and interrogating data to make it meaningful is crucial. Yet much of the world’s most powerful software can be a nightmare to integrate and often requires in-depth, expensive training to enable you to use all those vital features…

Why the world needs to get real about how we treat data for INDs It goes without saying that preclinical collaboration is complex business. So why then is so much of the historical data, collected over so many years of…

The externalisation train has left the station. Whether we know it or not we are all on it. Academics, biotechs and SMEs have laid the tracks for major companies to travel through multiple international collaborations; accessing talent and making sure…

Funding cuts for academia and continuing issues for the pharmaceutical industry are causing considerable stress in life sciences and healthcare research. However, new opportunities are developing to enable industry to access high quality, longitudinal patient and genetic data for…

It’s encouraging to see personalised medicine being featured front and centre in The Times today in the article by Mark Henderson. Making diagnosis and treatment decisions based on an individual’s genetic makeup seemed a long way off just a few years ago…

Earlier this year we were delighted to announce that IDBS had won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the International Trade Category 2011. The Queen’s Award is acknowledged as the UK’s most prestigious business award and was granted to IDBS in…

With the pace of technological change it is more relevant than ever to question not only how children are taught but also what they are taught. From simple adjustments like replacingcursive handwriting with typing, to deep questions over how learning itself is…

It all started with a crazy idea, and the fact that another ‘IDBS-er’ had ridden from London to Paris in 3 days to raise loads of money for charity. Little did I know what I had put my hand up…

It appears that the post mortem on Google Health is already being performed – six months before the patient is dead! But pointing a finger at the US Healthcare system misses one of the key issues, surprising for such a marketing-savvy company…

Times have changed from the heady days when sequencing a genome was a global endeavour that cost $3 billion. The latest NGS systems can do it for $10,000 in a few weeks – well almost. The challenges in the move…

The switch from paper-based notebooks to Electronic Lab Notebooks has proved as profound as the move from 78rpm records to iTunes. To stay competitive in this increasingly data driven world, investing in ELNs is becoming more and more crucial. Nowhere…