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Article Index Calendar CD's - Cost Justification CD - LIMS Primer CD Email Newsletter Featured Article Guest Book Industry News Introduction to LIMS LIMS Products & Services LIMSource Reprints Last updated June 23, 2009. Contact The LIMSource® and LIMS/Letter® are registered trademarks of the LIMSource, P.O. Box 935 Kenwood, CA 95452 USA Tel: +1 (707) 526-6885 Fax: +1 (707) 526-6889 © 1994-2009 Copyright©LIMS/Letter. All Rights Reserved. Legal Notice.		Welcome to the LIMS/Letter The LIMS/Letter is now a monthly online enewsletter that is closely tied to the LIMSource directory of LIMS and Informatics solutions and providers. Please subscribe to the free monthly email newsletter to keep up to date on the latest news and information. Featured Article JUNE 2009 Helsinki Chemicals Forum Highlights ECHA and REACH Regulation Challenges Launching a new standard is never easy. Despite an agency’s best efforts, phrases will be ambiguous and easily misinterpreted, deadlines will be difficult to meet, unforeseen obstacles will occur. This has been the case with one of the latest European Commission (EC) chemical safety regulations known as Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH). This article discusses the conference and the latest REACH challenges... Previous Articles MAY 2009 Strategies for Success in Today's Environment A Closer Look: Thermo Fisher Scientific & Symyx Partnership The economy has always had an impact on the way companies work. When times are good, more products are sold, and more money is spent on equipment and systems to expand the lab’s functionality and its ability to handle an increased workload. 1999, for instance, was a strong year for just about every organization because the economy was at a high. A decade later, 2009 is an example of the other side of the coin. But life goes on, so how are companies coping with the current difficult economic situation? Find out how Thermo Fisher Scientific and SymyxTechnologies addressed the challenge. APRIL 2009 Pittcon 2009 Wrap-Up Despite being overshadowed by the economic downturn, Pittcon rolls out significant new product releases and technology advances The premier conference and exposition on laboratory equipment and chemical analyses in North America, the Pittsburgh Conference (Pittcon) was held this year at the McCormick Convention Center in Chicago. IL from March 8-13. Once again, there were a number of LIMS and Informatics sessions, short courses, workshops, and tutorials available to feature the latest in LIMS, Informatics, laboratory automation, and data management. MARCH 2009 Conference Highlights from Pittcon 2009 Announcements and Product Introductions by Vendor The premier conference and exposition on laboratory equipment and chemical analyses in North America, the Pittsburgh Conference (Pittcon) was held this year at the McCormick Convention Center in Chicago. IL from March 8-13. Once again, there were a number of LIMS and Informatics sessions, short courses, workshops, and tutorials available to feature the latest in LIMS, Informatics, laboratory automation, and data management. More than 1,000 exhibitors showcased their products and services on the Pittcon exhibition floor in 2009. Following is an alphabetical list of the LIMS, Informatics and lab data automation vendors who exhibited at Pittcon 2009. The listing highlights the products the various vendors showcased in their booths, particularly new versions and upgrades. FEBRUARY 2009 Preview of Pittcon 2009 LIMS & Informatics Events The Pittsburgh Conference, aka Pittcon, is the premier conference and exposition on laboratory equipment and chemical analyses. This year it will be held at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL from March 8-13. Once again, there are a number of LIMS and Informatics sessions, short courses, workshops, and tutorials available to bring you up to date on the latest in LIMS, informatics, laboratory automation, and laboratory regulations. To assist you in making the rounds of LIMS and Informatics events and exhibitors, this article highlights the details at press time... JANUARY 2009 A Look Back at 2008 This past year will no doubt go down as one of the most turbulent in history. It was a turning point in so many ways for so many people, driven by economic crises that have touched just about everyone in some way. Fortunately for the analytical sciences industry, the impact was not as severe as it has been in other sectors... DECEMBER 2008 Improving Research Efficiency with ELNs Advances in software have been helping to optimize productivity and improve efficiency in research laboratories for many years, but the pace seems to be increasing exponentially as research tasks become more complex. Those areas where tasks are still being performed manually have been disappearing as new solutions make it easier and faster to do the work electronically. Electronic Lab Notebooks (ELNs) are increasingly popular software tools that are replacing the paper lab notebooks used on the front end of research tasks. The number of ELN solutions has grown rapidly in recent years, and the scope of those solutions has expanded so that there's probably a solution out there for just about every configuration. NOVEMBER 2008 Travel & Learning: Is Your Presence Required? 2009 is going to be a difficult year for conferences, seminars, and short courses looking for attendees. In this time of restricted budgets, spending money to attend an off-site event has many people wondering if it's worth the expense and whether they can't get the information they need some other way, such as on the Internet. Unfortunately, the Internet rarely offers the depth of detail necessary to extend one's knowledge in the way that a short course or seminar provides. And certainly there's nothing quite like the highly subjective encounters that an exhibit hall offers to look and touch and test drive various instruments and software as well as meet the people who will support those solutions. A picture of a Mass Spectrometer may be worth a thousand words, but actually looking at the instruments, being able to compare various makes and models at the same time, and talking to their representatives in a neutral environment is priceless. The difficulty lies in the number of venues available and selecting the most worthwhile events that can be justified and budgeted. OCTOBER 2008 Working Smarter by Automating Processes Thanks to the housing crisis and the swings in the stock market, the economy is certainly on everyone's mind, not only how it pertains to us as individuals but also how it affects the companies we work for and our particular niche industries within the larger analytical chemistry marketplace. While the situation is bad, it is not dire. Industry experts are emphatic that this is not another Great Depression despite the recent calamitous events. "For the average person, it hasn't had an impact," states Gregg Easterbrook, a Brookings Institution fellow in government and economic studies. "Goods and services are plentiful; the price of gas is falling; ATMs are working. People are not losing jobs left and right." Easterbrook points out that the current situation is a financial panic, not an economic collapse (1). SEPTEMBER 2008 New LIMS Primer CD 2008/9 to be Released Next Month A new, updated LIMS Primer CD will be issued in October 2008, providing a fresh set of case studies, articles, and details about LIMS selection, implementation and management. The latest in a series of unique CD-ROMs developed by the LIMSource, the LIMS Primer 2008/9 will deliver a capsule look at LIMS, providing tutorials and templates as well as selected LIMS/Letter articles and case studies about successful implementations. >>> AUGUST 2008 New Book Examines International IT Regulations and Compliance Every now and then the subject comes up about books and what’s available for those who want a bit more of an in-depth look at things than the information offered on the vast but shallow seas of the Internet. There haven’t been many books on LIMS published recently, mainly because the LIMS marketplace has matured and has become a subset of the larger Informatics marketplace as that arena has also matured. This means that looking for publications which examine LIMS issues in-depth has become a bit like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. Well, here’s one of those golden needles for your consideration. JULY 2008 Invitrogen to Acquire Applied Biosystems It’s always interesting to speculate on the long-term marketplace ramifications of an acquisition. The pending acquisition of Applied Biosystems by Invitrogen Corporation this Fall marks Invitrogen’s move to take market leadership in the area of biotechnology reagents and systems. JUNE 2008 Regulatory Roundup: Moving Forward, but Slowly The FDA has been busy the first half of 2008, getting budgets approved, moving forward with various rules and regulations, and releasing new draft guidances for consideration. Much of this work has long needed resolution, some is in response to changes in technology and the overcrowding of the regulatory marketplace, little of it is a surprise. Following is a roundup of some of the more significant events MAY 2008 The Future of Lab Data Management Predicting the future is a lot like predicting the weather: it’s perfectly normal to be wrong 50 per cent of the time, mainly because anything can affect and therefore change the prediction at the last moment. Getting it right half the time is not just a science, but an art. The science/art of accurate prediction relies heavily on past trends as well as nimble assessment of how those trends drove changes in their own time and what those changes might be in the future. APRIL 2008 Pittcon 2008 Wrap-Up ELNs Continue to be Hot Topic; More Web-Deliverable LIMS Featured MARCH 2008 LIMS & Informatics Highlights from Pittcon 2008 Announcements and Product Introductions by Vendor Once again, there were a number of LIMS and Informatics sessions, short courses, workshops, and tutorials available to feature the latest in LIMS, Informatics, laboratory automation, and laboratory regulations. FEBRUARY 2008 Preview of Pittcon 2008 LIMS & Informatics Events Forums, Symposia, Short Courses. Workshops, and Tutorials to Attend The Pittsburgh Conference, aka Pittcon, is the premier conference and exposition on laboratory equipment and chemical analyses. This year it will be held at the Ernst Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, LA from March 2-7.T o assist you in making the rounds of LIMS and Informatics events and exhibitors, this article highlights the details at press time. JANUARY 2008 21st Century Process Management Using SPC-Based Manufacturing Analytics by Phil Schreiber, VP Sales & Marketing, Northwest Analytical, Inc Actively using SPC and Manufacturing Analytics lets you use large volumes of process data effectively to manage the enterprise DECEMBER 2007 The Benefits of a LIMS In Proteomics by T. R. Smallmon, LabVantage Solutions and J.K. Ganjei, TissueGene The LIMS Marketplace In the Beginning... The first LIMS were developed in the pharmaceutical and related industries for use as a QA/QC tool in the early 1980's by in-house development departments or under contract by external software houses. These LIMS were exclusively based on mini-computer or mainframe technology, often using proprietary database software as their foundation.				LIMS Cost Justification CD The LIMS Cost Justification CD helps you to build a better business case for your Informatics investment. LIMS Primer CDs Delivers Quick, Easy to Use Reference Tool The Annual LIMS Primer CDs provide a quick reference tool for quickly getting up to speed on LIMS and Informatics issues, vendors and technology. These unique CDs deliver a capsule look at LIMS, from tutorials and advice, to selected LIMS/Letter articles, to a short list of top LIMS and Informatics vendors. Order yours today!