Automation as a solution may feel like a hassle. However, one study published by the National Institute of Health (NIH) found that 89% of articles featured a manual protocol with an automated alternative.
Additionally, more labs have caught onto the efficiency of automation, as publications citing robotics or automation as a resource have risen 25 percent in the past 30 years. It’s clear why—manually cataloging every sample out of hundreds invites (understandable) human error that could delay the analysis time.
To avoid this, you can program automation software to highlight what you’re trying to find in your datasets and alert you to any other trends that weren’t originally in the experiment’s scope. Plus, streamlining data analysis can give your team the bandwidth to analyze specific trends and a wider breadth of reliable data.
The Challenges of Manual Data Analysis in Laboratories
Manual data analysis faces the main obstacle of inherently variable lab personnel. Sometimes, this variable will outperform automation methods. Typically, the copy-paste method of automation can create a repeatable process, which can help you standardize the associated subprocesses in your lab.
Some other limitations of manual data analysis are:
Time-Consuming Processes
Being diligent and observant in manual data analysis is no small undertaking. Often, it can take weeks or even months to analyze complex datasets manually.
Increased Risk of Human Error
Incorrect manual data input can cause you to rerun a test. Rerunning a test could introduce more unwanted variables, causing further inconsistencies that lead to discrepancies in your workflow and delay your research.
Inefficient Use of Lab Resource
Let’s say a data section is incongruous from the rest of its set. This may cause you to pull in other researchers to interpret as to why.
While you try to figure this out, you need to store the samples in an ultra-low freezer. By storing them, they reduce valuable space that could be used for other tested samples from other colleagues.
While manual data analysis can provide singular insights, it can also wreak havoc, causing widespread delays in your lab.
Bridging the Gap Between Lab Experiments and Insights Through Automation
Methods like liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry (LC/MS) are ever-popular because they are effective in analyzing large volumes of data with precision. But rarely does anything come easy, and LC/MS requires hundreds of steps, complex modalities, and multiple sample transfers throughout testing. To accomplish this, LC and MS machines need large teams of lab technicians to execute these workflows simultaneously.
Automating this process can reduce how many resources you need to coordinate. To draw a comparison, if LC and MS are islands, the lab technicians must swim across channels to update both islands on the others’ information. Rather than having lab technicians swim, what if there was a bridge with built-in tracks to handle information for the lab techs? That’s how automation could streamline your data analysis workflows.
Accuracy and Reduced Errors
Taking the stress out of handling delicate samples, like proteins, can give your experiment more consistency, leading to more accurate and repeatable results. Robotics is no longer a faraway option for only the biggest labs with the best funding; it can assist any lab of any size.
With advanced sensors, Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) can sense their human counterparts and stop patiently for them. Additionally, AMRs can transport samples while progressing a D-M-T-A cycle remotely.
Once a test is run, you can use your trained artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) software to identify significant data trends and extrapolate those trends from previous tests, highlighting larger trends in your data. Green Button Go (GBG) supports AI/ML software by sending the data it gathers, giving the AI/ML software even more comprehensive metrics.
Efficiency and Speed
Having AI/ML software to assist in drug discovery can help identify foreseen and emerging trends in your data, allowing your team to make valuable insights faster and increase overall efficiency. Additionally, automation software like GBG tracks and logs all data from previous tests, which can then highlight any bottlenecks in your automation processes.
While multitasking is typically frowned upon when completing mentally demanding work, GBG can use machines to transport and prepare samples for data acquisition while gathering data about your workflows in real-time.
Consistency
Replicating every task in a D-M-T-A cycle can be challenging on a good day and almost impossible if even one process is misaligned. Controlling every variable can be arduous and vexing for even the most veteran lab technicians.
But, maintaining integrity across cycles is imperative to achieving replicable results. Automation systems take the headache out of reproducing the exact result each time and can store your lab’s preferences for a ‘push-button’ solution.
Financial and Operational Benefits
Any big purchase comes with sticker shock, but automation software and hardware solutions also greatly reduce the margin of error, alleviating some pressure on operating expenses.
Application scientists can also work with you to decide what automation solution makes sense for your current needs while scaling for the future. If you need clarification on whether automation is the right choice for your lab, the NIH published a comprehensive guide to help you determine if automation makes sense for your operation.
How to Automate Lab Data Analysis
Ready to review how you can implement an automated lab data analysis solution? Here’s a quick checklist you can use before selecting a solution for your lab.
- Align on research objectives: Data analysis often involves staff from different scientific specialties to find overarching trends. The better your researchers collaborate on automating processes, the better an automation solution can work for your team.
- Decide on relevant data metrics: While an automated software solution can track every process, pinpointing what processes to track can help guide the direction of your overall operation.
- Select ‘push-button’ tools: Choosing an automated lab data analysis solution that is incompatible with your existing machines will cause a slowdown before you begin a D-M-T-A cycle. Biosero’s automated software solutions are machine-agnostic, meaning they can work with any manufacturer’s hardware.
Choosing the Right Automation Tools
If you’re unsure which GBG solution makes sense for your lab, here are brief descriptions of how each software works.
GBG Scheduler automates processes such as:
- Batch planning
- Executing recurring tasks.
- Controlling multiple robots and machines simultaneously.
GBG Orchestrator can:
- Create and maintain a real-time consumable inventory tracker.
- Catalog manual tasks automatically.
- Have multi-branded instruments work together while gathering metrics.
Integrating Automation into Existing Systems
Another major upside of GBG is that it’s designed to be agnostic to hundreds of machines and brands, creating harmony with all your systems.
All you need to do is catalog your current processes and train the software, and GBG will carry out tasks as you intended. Flexible automation software also allows you to find competitive pricing on quality hardware.
GBG is made to be a modular solution regardless of your hardware preferences.
Training Lab Personnel for Automation Success
If your staff knows how to use GBG effectively, they can find even more unexpected processes to automate and be even more efficient.
Our experts at Biosero can help you get the most out of GBG and offer valuable insight into where discrepancies may emerge. Just because GBG is a ‘plug-and-play’ software does not mean you are by yourself once the software installation is complete. Biosero has a team ready to assist you with any questions you may have, no matter how many years it’s been since the initial installation.
If you ever encounter issues with GBG or want to know how you can make it work harder for you, visit our service and support page to find the best resource or field expert to help you.
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Conclusion About the Future of Automated Lab Data Analysis
In short, automated lab analysis offers your team the consistency of executing tasks, flexibility in not needing staff to complete processes outside of working hours, and an ever-growing dataset, so repeatability is a standard.
Labs of any scale benefit from automation, and by having automated lab data analysis, your lab can achieve best-in-class outcomes.
If you’re curious about how automation and data analysis could work for your lab, visit our Contact Us page. An automation expert will work with you to plan a customized solution for your operation.
