Podcast
The Lab Man Podcast affords you the monthly opportunity to download an audio file at your leisure. While The Lab Man Podcast will be brief in form ranging from three-to-five minutes, its function will be to offer a glimpse of interesting and significant questions, answers and ideas emanating from the discussion board in any particular month. The Lab Man also will acknowledge and thank leading contributors as well as members of our volunteer scientific experts.
This Month's Podcast
Could NanoDiamonds be your best friend?
If you have a disease like cancer and need a way to deliver small but potent sustained drug release to a specific part of your body, then nanodiamonds could indeed be your best friend.
Podcast Archive
The ALA office, a full-time, year-round operation
Many of you may not be aware that the ALA office is a year-round operation, with a small core of full-time staff coordinating the activities a larger, virtual group of contract staff and member volunteers. During a break in the action at the recent LabAutomation conference, The LabMan sat down with Amy McGorry, Senior Manager of Administration and Member Services, to talk about these activities and her role.
LabAutomation2010 Award Winners
ALA welcomed 4,113 participants from around the world to LabAutomation2010, Jan. 23-27, Palm Springs Convention Center, Palm Springs, CA, USA.
LabAutomation is the world's leading conference and exhibition focusing on emerging laboratory automation technologies.
During the five-day event educational highlights included the top 100 podium presentations from across the field of laboratory automation, 18 short courses, 200 poster presentations, 18 industry-sponsored workshops and four special sessions and market place briefings. Special sessions focused on hot topics such as India's emerging pharmaceutical market, equipment purchasing trends in North America, and European standardization efforts regarding laboratory automation.
The Lab Man sat down with the ALA Student Poster Competition winner and the three recipients of the ALA New Product Award Designation. List to these great podcasts:
- Student Poster Competition Winner Govind Kaigala, Stanford University
- New Product Award Recipients:
o ArtusLabs
o Beckman Coulter
o Emerald Biosystems
Listen to the Lastest Podcast Featuring JALA Editor-in-Chief, Dean Ho
ALA's Award-Winning Wiki Celebrates First Anniversary; Global Usage Statistics Reveal Exponential Growth
The Lab Man sits down with fellow LabAutopedia site administrator Mark Russo, Ph.D. to discuss the success of ALA's wiki in its first year and to celebrate the one year anniversary of its launch. With more than 200 contributed articles, videos and white papers, LabAutopedia has more than doubled its content over the past year. In its first 12 months, LabAutopedia has welcomed more than 28,500 unique visitors from over 150 countries and territories world-wide. The wiki also is averaging more than 7,500 page views per month. In the United States, users spend more than three minutes on the site and view an average of four pages per visit.
PAT, a cousin to Laboratory Automation
It's interesting how some technologies exist for many years before coming into the spotlight. One such technology has now been labeled as "Process Analytical Technology", or PAT. This technology has been implemented for years, particularly by the chemical and consumer products industries. Now, decades later PAT is in the spotlight thanks to the FDA, having become a cornerstone of the US Food and Drug Administration's (US FDA) Quality by Design (QbD) initiative for both the design and control of quality processes.
"World Class" Lab Automation "Down on the Farm"
Years ago, The Lab Man visited the DuPont agriculture station and came away astounded by the sophistication of the science and automation being used in agricultural science research. Today, The Lab Man talks with Jason Abbas of Syngenta Seeds Inc., and finds that trend of sophistication, innovation and unique problem solving continues today.
Running of the FAT
Have you ever been involved in FAT testing? I don't mean the kind of test where you determine how big the bulge around your waist is! I mean Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT) of an automated system. The LabMan talks to vendors and users about this important milestone point in the development of an automated system.
When Your Software Goes Away!
What if that software were suddenly discontinued or the software provider ceased to exist? How would it affect your business, what options do you have, what could you have done to prepare for such an occurrence? The Lab Man discusses what one should do when his/her preferred software goes away and details steps to take to make a smooth transition.
Entrepreneurial Moments - The Sagian Story - Part 3: Acquired
In our last installment of looking at entrepreneurial career transitions, we bring you part three of the Sagian podcast story entitled "Acquired." In the written blog, the LabMan talks to a longtime colleague about his move to academia after 25 years in the pharma industry.
Entrepreneurial Moments - The Sagian Story - Part 2: Growing & Acquiring
The Chris Neary interview continues, focusing on Sagian’s early years of growth and acquisition, including their serendipitous entry into the HTS robotics market.
Entrepreneurial Moments - The Sagian Story - Part 1: The Leap
Today many careers are in flux, or may become so. We’re often told that such times are an opportunity to "reinvent ourselves", but how many really do that? Are you the type who recognizes opportunity and is willing to "take the leap?" The LabMan brings you a three-part story of a group of scientists who took that entrepreneurial leap. Initially supported by credit cards and working wives, they became a success story, but only after years of hard work, more leaps and occasional glances into the financial abyss.
Enclosed is a 10 second preview of the part 2 podcast that we’ll do in May.
Liquid handling: Challenges and Solutions
Improving liquid handling capability is the focus of much on-going technology development. Yet it remains at the core of what makes manual to automated assay translation difficult. To learn more about this paradox, we talked to Doug Gurevitch, Senior Development Engineer at the University of California San Diego, and co-instructor of the ALA Liquid Handling Boot Camp short course.
February 2009
Warm and Sunny Science and Technology in Palm Springs!
4237 registrants, 425 exhibit booths - including 45 new exhibitors and 25 product launches, excellent plenary talks by Klavs Jensen, John Abele and Jeffrey Wigand, and of course live interviews with The Lab Man for the Poster Award and New Product Award winners! LabAutomation2009 was very sunny in many ways. Listen to the podcasts from the event and read the blog for more details.
- NPA Winner: Joann Laukart (METTLER TOLEDO)
- NPA Winner: Vincent Gau (GeneFluidics)
- Dean Ho
- Vinu Venkatraman
- NPA Winner: Jon Wagner (Agilent Technologies)
See you in Palm Springs!
By now I'm sure you're all eager to enjoy some warm weather while hearing about the latest developments in laboratory technology, so please plan to be in Palm Springs for LabAutomation 2009 on January 24th through 28th. The program promises to be the best ever! The LabMan talked to Dr. Scott Martin, professor of chemistry at Saint Louis University, this years program chair about the event.
The Knowledge Network worth your right arm!
Undoubtedly you know by now about LabAutopedia. One of our readers says it's a resource he'd have given his right arm for back when he started his instrument project. He's a lefty! Listen to a behind-the-scenes report about the creation of the wiki from one of the team.
"Have it your way" software
Have you ever found that the software provided with your laboratory automation systems didn't quite fit your needs? What if there existed "open source" lab automation software, written by the community of users, which you could freely modify to meet your specific needs? The same open source concept has led to the quite successful Linux operating system. Could the same happen in our field? Neil Benn thinks so.
Ethics and technology
What if you determined that your employer was more interested in corporate profits vs. informing the public about the possible health risks of their product? Would you feel that the public ought to look out for themselves, and quietly keep doing your job? Would you try to change your employers' attitude? Would you simply quit? Or would you blow the whistle, knowing that your employer would not only fire you, but attempt to discredit you? Let's hope you never face this situation. But Dr. Jeffrey Wigand did. The LabMan talks to Dr. Wigand in advance of his plenary lecture at LabAutomation 2009.
Automated Labs to monitor worldwide infectious diseases
We all remember the bird flu scare from a few years ago. Experts warn that the threat of a true worldwide infectious disease pandemic is real. UCLA and Los Alamos National Lab have joined forces to begin developing the High Throughput Laboratory Network to provide a worldwide rapid response capability and surveillance system for infectious disease. The LabMan talked to Tony Beugelsdijk and Torsten Staab of LANL about the project and the technology they are using.
The Lab Man talks about Microplates!
You use and depend on them daily. You assume the first one will be just like the last one, but that hasn't always been the case. On this month's podcast, The Lab Man talks to Carol Homon about the evolution of microplate standards and laboratory automation standards in general. Be sure to listen, because a conversation with Carol is never dull!
July 2008
Quenching Your Thirst for Knowledge!
Today ALA launched its newest program bringing you — the laboratory automation community — the best and most in news and information about our evolving field in a live news feed. This real-time, 24-7-365 news service offers you access to information from billions and billions of sources daily — all at your fingertips delivered directly to your desktop. To learn more, visit The Lab Man blog/podcast for a conversation with ALA President Jim Sterling. Podcast; Blog.
June 2008
Inside Biopharma Lab Automation
Are you interested to know how the internal automation group of a large biopharma company works? How do they make decisions about technology and resources? How are they positioning themselves in the current business climate? The Lab Man talks with Peter Grandsard, an Executive Director of Research at Amgen, Inc. about his Research & Automation Technologies group.
May 2008
An Automated Crystal Ball?
X-ray crystallography has long been used as a tool for studying the structure of proteins, but the process of creating and evaluating protein crystals for this analysis has always been a tedious and very artful endeavor. The long story of automating this process is a fascinating case study of how to and not to approach automating a laboratory process. The LabMan discusses this with Eric Baldwin, Director of Protein Crystallography at Bristol-Myers Squibb.
April 2008
Designing Experiments the Automated Way
Experiments tend to work better if they're planned, and experiments are less laborious if automated. This month The Lab Man explores the combination of both - Automated Design of Experiments. It's all about software to design great experiments and then sitting back and watching your automation carry out the plan!
March 2008
A New Location for LabAutomation?
The Lab Man talks to Brenda Dreier, the ALA Director of Event Management and to Jim Sterling, the current ALA president, about the history and future of the LabAutomation conference.
February 2008
Innovation and Change at LabAutomation2008
The ALA does many things to encourage and recognize innovation! Check out the "live" podcasts from LabAutomation2008 with the New Product Award winners, the Student Poster Award winner and a specialist in Career Development. Read The Lab Man blog for more impressions of this years event!
- NPA Winner: Qiagen
- NPA Winner: Formulatrix
- NPA Winner: Viaflow
- Nicole Tolan — Student Poster Winner
- Megan Driscoll — Career Management
January 2008
Teaching Microplates New Tricks
What's new with microplates other than squeezing more wells into the same footprint? The Lab Man talks to Lane Niles, an independent consultant in the field of Assay Biophysics, about new developments in microplate material science.
December 2007
Microsoft a player in bioinformatics?
We're all aware of Microsoft products for our PC's, but did you know that the company is becoming much more active in the bioinformatics field? The LabMan has a conversation with Rudy Potenzone, Industry Technology Strategist for Microsoft, about the Microsoft BioIT Alliance initiative.
November 2007
Interview with Dean Kamen
The LabMan talks with Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway human transport device, about technology education and FIRST.
October 2007
Vision Systems Evaluate Behavior
The LabMan talks to Dr. Lucas Noldus, CEO of Noldus Information Technology in the Netherlands, about recent software advances that make it possible to conduct advanced evalutions of animal and human behavior.
September 2007
The return of RFID?
The Lab Man talks to Rick Pestian of the RFID Solutions Center about whether Radio Frequency ID will make a lab comeback via improved technology and dramatically lowered cost as it is doing in the shipping and retail industry.
August 2007
Is Your Industry Going Hollywood?
The Lab Man discusses a recent article published in The Scientist which proposes that the future business model for Pharma should be patterned after the movie industry. Together with Charles R. Powell, Chief Commercial Officer of Aurora Biotechnologies, The Lab Man ponders the effect such a business model might have on laboratory automation.
July 2007
Spotlight on Putting Lab Automation to Work
The recent ALA survey on Industrial Laboratory Automation indicated that the challenge has shifted from simply implementing fast, reliable automation tools to the complexities of doing new and better science with those tools. The Lab Man speaks with ALA President Reinhold Schaefer about the new ALA Spotlight Series of workshops, which are designed specifically to shine a "spotlight" on the evolving challenge of putting automation to work to do science.
June 2007
ELN's are here!
If your organization isn't developing its Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) strategy, then you're at risk of falling behind the curve. ELN's are here and being implemented by mainstream organizations, not just early "bleeding edge" adopters. But it's not all simple and easy just yet, as we are told in this podcast conversation with Michael Elliott of Atrium Research.
May 2007
This month, The Lab Man talks with Kevin Hrusovsky, president and CEO of Caliper Life Sciences and former ALA board member, about the perceived trend that technology providing companies are migrating more into the business of service and partnership to the life sciences industry.
April 2007
This month, the Lab Man has a discussion about the impact on laboratory automation of new Operating Systems such as Windows Vista with software development engineer Bob Burger of Beckman Coulter.
March 2007
The Lab Man interviews the closing speaker of LabAutomation2007, Daniel H. Wilson, author of "How to Survive a Robot Uprising."
February 2007: What did we learn at LabAutomation 2007?
This month's posting consists of three podcasts, all recorded live on the LabAutomation2007 exhibit floor, and each featuring one of the ALA New Product Award (NPA) Designation winners.
January 2007
ALA Survey Results #3: Nuts and Bolts???
December 2006
ALA Survey Results #2: Why automate???
November 2006
ALA Survey Results #1: How do we get lab automation done?
October 2006
Microfluidics: Hits and Misses – What’s the state of evolution of this technology?
September 2006
What are the proper techniques to accurately pipetting DMSO based solutions?
August 2006
What standards exist covering the integration of laboratory automation?
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Ethics and technology
What if you determined that your employer was more interested in corporate profits vs. informing the public about the possible health risks of their product? Would you feel that the public ought to look out for themselves, and quietly keep doing your job? Would you try to change your employers' attitude? Would you simply quit? Or would you blow the whistle, knowing that your employer would not only fire you, but attempt to discredit you? Let's hope you never face this situation. But Dr. Jeffrey Wigand did. The LabMan talks to Dr. Wigand in advance of his plenary lecture at LabAutomation 2009.
Entrepreneurial Moments - The Sagian Story - Part 3: Acquired
In our last installment of looking at entrepreneurial career transitions, we bring you part three of the Sagian podcast story entitled "Acquired." In the written blog, the LabMan talks to a longtime colleague about his move to academia after 25 years in the pharma industry.
PAT, a cousin to Laboratory Automation
It's interesting how some technologies exist for many years before coming into the spotlight. One such technology has now been labeled as "Process Analytical Technology", or PAT. This technology has been implemented for years, particularly by the chemical and consumer products industries. Now, decades later PAT is in the spotlight thanks to the FDA, having become a cornerstone of the US Food and Drug Administration's (US FDA) Quality by Design (QbD) initiative for both the design and control of quality processes.
Listen to the Lastest Podcast Featuring JALA Editor-in-Chief, Dean Ho'
ALA's Award-Winning Wiki Celebrates First Anniversary; Global Usage Statistics Reveal Exponential Growth
The Lab Man sits down with fellow LabAutopedia site administrator Mark Russo, Ph.D. to discuss the success of ALA's wiki in its first year and to celebrate the one year anniversary of its launch. With more than 200 contributed articles, videos and white papers, LabAutopedia has more than doubled its content over the past year. In its first 12 months, LabAutopedia has welcomed more than 28,500 unique visitors from over 150 countries and territories world-wide. The wiki also is averaging more than 7,500 page views per month. In the United States, users spend more than three minutes on the site and view an average of four pages per visit.