We all remember the bird flu scare from a few years ago.  Experts continue to warn that the threat of a true worldwide infectious disease pandemic is real.  The means of monitoring for such outbreaks are still spotty and slow compared to the potential speed of disease spread.  UCLA and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) 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 (co-principal investigator together with Scott Layne of UCLA) and Torsten Staab (software architect) of LANL about the project and the technology they are using.

How many times have you noticed that the details of a laboratory automation interface to another device varies from one device to another?  Have you noticed that there is no standard 100ul pipette tip?  Have you spent hours trying to understand the format of data output from a workstation?  If you answered "yes" to any of the above questions, then you've been impacted by the lack of standards in the field of laboratory automation.  What would it take to do something about it?  How difficult is it to create standards?  The LabMan decided to talk to someone who has been through the process, Carol Homon, one of the key forces behind the creation of the SBS standards for microplates.

As you can see, we are now state-of-the-art in the blogosphere!  The new blog should be easier for you to read and (hint!) post comments.    No more waiting on pins and needles anticipating the appearance of a new blog!  You can use the RSS feed feature to bring the blog directly to your desktop as soon as it's published.  From The LabMan's point of view, it's much easier to publish, and I can enhance your blog experience with new tools, such as publishing images. 

Enjoy, and please do give us comments