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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.

Share Knowledge & Enhance Collaboration

ELNS are a rapidly expanding market thanks to their ability to dramatically improve the effectiveness of laboratories in particular their ability to share knowledge and enhance collaboration provide great benefit to scientists.

The use of ELNs in the lab has increased dramatically over the past few years, and with good reason – ELNs provide a quick return on their investment and can significantly increase productivity while making it easier to comply with the myriad of increasingly numerous and complex regulations.

New Twist in the Game

The most recent twist on the game is the entry of computer companies into the analytical market by pairing their hardware with industry-specific software. Dell Computer (www.Dell.com) is now packaging hardware, software and services to deliver a solution that manages research documents while providing access to lab records and data. Dell is specifically targeting Bio-researchers with an offering that combines servers and support with its Latitude XT tablets and Rescentris Inc.'s (www.Rescentris.com) Collaborative Electronic Research Framework (CERF) software. Designed to get labs up and running quickly, the system can be scaled up to 50-75 users. The CERF software is a secure, 21-CFR-11 compliant system that centralizes scientific content management and recordkeeping.

"With this solution, researchers are unchained from their desks and can generate and capture data as it happens," said Dr. Adel Mikhail, Rescentris chief executive officer. "With the cost of developing a single drug running more than US$1 million a day, the ability to bring efficiency to research is critical to our customers and the ELN solution presents an easy, scalable solution that can potentially save days in the R&D process."

LIMS Fulfill Key Role

Packaging an ELN the way Dell has done can be quite convenient, but many labs may not need to go this route. Companies that have deployed LIMS already have the hardware and much of the services in place, so that they only need to add the ELN component to the existing information management infrastructure to leverage the benefits.

SQL*LIMS (www.SQLLIMS.com) , for instance, is offering a fully integrated eNotebook solution that addresses lab tasks from sample input to reporting, immediately increasing the lab’s productivity by eliminating paper-based forms, controlling SOP requirements, automating analyses, and storing results in a searchable database.

In the world of the research lab, applications such as LIMS fulfill a key role in collecting and organizing data. ELNs can extend the value of LIMS by applying the context of experimentation to the measurement process. ELNs also address the gap between LIMS and Project Management for R&D, while at the same time being a Knowledge Management (KM) tool that doesn't require additional installation or training.

Summary

ELNs are radically improving the effectiveness of laboratory operations because these innovative tools provide new approaches to knowledge management, collaboration, and data integration.

However, as always, there is a caveat, and that is that the researcher needs to take time to investigate the offerings available to select the one that is the best fit for their lab. Remember there is no "best" ELN, only the best ELN for your particular lab, and that's dependant upon what's already in place, what the lab does, and particular functions you want the ELN to possess.

For more information about ELNs, please visit http://www.censa.org.