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Perfect union
December 2009
EDIT CONNECT
SHARING OPTIONS:
PHILADELPHIA—Seeking to provide scientists in the bioanalytical
community with what is, in theory, a "completely automated workflow," Thermo
Fisher Scientific Inc. and Symyx Technologies Inc. have announced an
out-of-the-box integration of Symyx Notebook and Thermo Scientific Watson LIMS.
With the integration of the industry-standard Thermo
Scientific Watson LIMS with Symyx's electronic lab notebook (ELN), the
companies say that scientists engaged in biological and bioanalytical workflows
will be able electronically pass study information, sample lists, experimental
results and reports between the ELN and the LIMS, reducing time-consuming
manual transcription and data manipulation that can result in costly laboratory
errors and regulatory compliance issues.
With the new offering, bioanalytical scientists can not only
drive their existing workflow in Watson LIMS, but also gain the added benefit
of performing sample preparation, managing instrument calibration and
maintenance and completing the experimental record in Symyx Notebook, all under
GLP compliance.
"We had originally talked about doing something like this
internally and developing a product ourselves but we took a long look at the
market and saw what Symyx offers and they immediately went to the top of our
list," recalls Trish Meek, Thermo Fisher Scientific director of product
strategy, life sciences. "It became clear to us that if we had decided to do
this in-house, their product is the kind of product we would have wanted to
design."
She adds that Symyx's ELN provided a very strong core system
with flexible offerings and interfaces and very easy connectivity, "so while
it's strong in life sciences, we realized it could also support other industry
segments as needed," she says. "Many of our largest customers had already
selected Symyx Notebook as their ELN solution. Symyx had developed an ELN
platform for the entire enterprise based on a .NET architecture. So from both a
business and technology perspective, the partnership just made sense."
With the economy being what it is and pipelines being what they
are, Meek says, manual transcription of data simply doesn't wash in terms of
making things efficient and cost-effective, and customers have been asking for
more ability to automate the process, from sample prep to analytical trends to
overall batch management and product management.
"The integration of Symyx Notebook with Watson LIMS
demonstrates Symyx's ongoing commitment to powering the electronic laboratory
environment with better data correlation, more secure information exchanges and
improved end-to-end report generation," says Trevor Heritage, president of
Symyx's software business unit. "Additional capabilities to explore and report
Watson LIMS data with Symyx Isentris will enhance the value of scientific
information and optimize the way scientists communicate and collaborate in the
lab."
What Symyx and Thermo Fisher are aiming to do is to assist
bioanalytical laboratories in migrating away from paper-based systems and
manual data transcription processes and toward fully electronic, automated laboratory
workflows. In addition to its other benefits, the integrated solution also
ensures that all experimental details on projects or studies are authenticated
by Watson and documented electronically, allowing scientists to share reports
and results with colleagues across the lab or in another location.
"Today, pharmaceutical companies are looking for
efficiencies in workflow, and by guiding the laboratory users through their
study protocols and bioanalytical assays in the LIMS and ELN we have enabled scientists
to maximize not only their workflow but also their knowledge while saving time
and eliminating manual transcription errors," says Dave Champagne, vice
president and general manager for Thermo Fisher Scientific. "The integration of
Watson LIMS with Symyx Notebook provides electronic access to all of the data
generated, whether it's structured data stored in the LIMS or unstructured data
stored in the ELN."
Thermo Fisher hadn't worked with Symyx before, but the
company had worked with MDL before, which Symyx bought from Elsivier to get its
ISIS software, Meek says.
"While we didn't have any traditional, direct relationship
with Symyx, we looked across the market and saw that this was the right player,
and our leadership immediately saw the value of this partnership," Meek
explains. "We weren't coming in with preconceived notions or expectations of
what we or they did. We came with a fresh start, laid it all out on the table,
and said, 'Where can we make the best start for our customers?' In general,
too, we've been looking at more ways to partner with other companies,
particularly around products for which we share customers. Instead of doing
custom projects, we're trying to see how we can partner with other companies
more on mutually beneficial solutions."
Estimates are that companies pay between $15,000 and $20,000
per researcher for management of paper notebooks, Meek says, so the market
value of ELN in this integration is clear. But she says Thermo Fisher wanted to
take it a step farther and look at all the steps in the Watson LIMS workflow
and see how much and what kinds of data it could automatically pass between the
two systems.
"We looked at the workflow end to end and identified all the
manual steps to see what could be shifted to the ELN, because that was where we
could really generate efficiency gains—not just for better workflow but also
for better searchability of data later on," she notes.
Thermo Fisher will expand on the Watson LIMS integration
over the coming months as it continues to work with customers and hears of new
requirements and needs, Meek says, adding that the company is looking at other
LIMS offerings and other products in its portfolio to see where integrations
with the Symyx ELN might help customers best.
Code: E120909 Back |
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