MOBILE ANALYSIS | LABORATORY INFORMATICS GUIDE 2014
convenient keyboards when using tablet or phone-like devices. Similarly, browsing large amounts of data or conventional spreadsheets are unlikely with the current technology in mobile devices. Scott Weiss, IDBS director of product strategy, explains: ‘Just trying to shrink them [big data sets] down to a mobile device and trying to cram all that functionality into a touch-screen – it’s not just a technical challenge, there’s an ergonomics challenge with the way you interact with that.’ Seamus Mac Conaonaigh, from Thermo
Fisher, highlighted how bar-code scanners on mobile devices have already been implemented in a loading-dock scenario. ‘Historically, this was done with something like a bar-code reader attached to a workstation, which is not very mobile,’ he continued. With mobile devices, in contrast: ‘You can have the person who’s receiving the goods just basically walking around and scanning all the items no matter where they are, rather than bringing the items to a single location.’ This information is then automatically transferred to the LIMS or similar system. The inherent mobility of hand-held devices means that these types of activities, which used to create a bottleneck in the workflow, can now be carried out more efficiently. Barcode scanning, combined with the
GPS included in many smartphones, can make environmental sampling in the field more efficient. Mac Conaonaigh explained: ‘Previously you would need several pieces of equipment to do this type of thing. Your water-testing person just goes to a location – be it a river or lake – and scans the barcode that’s already attached to the test-tube, fills the test tube, bottles it up, enters the record and then its immediately transmitted to the LIMS, so they have the complete chain of custody of where this sample was captured’. This kind of sampling eliminates transcription errors and makes the validation process easier, as the system automatically records the GPS data.
REVIEWING DATA Another key area for the integration of mobile technologies is to review the data that has been analysed. John Wise, executive director of the Pistoia Alliance, gave an example of data review out of the laboratory environment where two scientists may discuss how a chemical compound could be modified to aid targeting to a specific area for medicinal purposes. Traditionally this would
have been done on paper, but applications can now be used to accomplish this on a mobile device. Stephen Gallagher, CEO of Dotmatics,
said: ‘We have implemented a feature in our chemical drawing app, Elemental, that enables the scientist to draw or annotate
The inherent mobility of hand-held devices means that these types of activities, which used to create a
bottleneck in the workflow, can now be carried out more efficiently
a compound or reaction on their phone or mobile device, and automatically push it to their Studies Notebook, Dotmatics’ electronic laboratory notebook.’ Wise went on to say how this type of procedure could be enhanced, ‘by connecting to the corporate chemical database and finding out that
maybe you have got that molecule.’ There are other examples of the use of mobile devices to review data captured in the laboratory. Wise said: ‘If you wanted to check the status of an ongoing experiment then perhaps the mobile device would allow you to check.’ He was talking hypothetically – but this technology has already been implemented, according to Thermo Fisher’s Mac Conaonaigh. The company’s Data Manager module can be connected to chemical analysis instruments, for example chromatography. The software collects the data, which can then be viewed using traditional workstation-based computers or a hand-held device. Taking the raw data from the instrument, rather than a jpeg or pdf, means that a higher fidelity is obtained. Mc Conaonaigh highlights the advantages:
‘On an iPad, you can connect to one of our applications and you can get at the original raw data. So if it’s a chromatograph you can
➤
Mobile data access allows users to search and access laboratory data from any device
www.scientific-computing.com/lig2013 | 27
Thermo Fisher Scientific
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40