{"title":"Managing laboratory automation.","authors":"T J Saboe","doi":"10.1155/S1463924695000149","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/S1463924695000149","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This paper discusses the process of managing automated systems through their life cycles within the quality-control (QC) laboratory environment. The focus is on the process of directing and managing the evolving automation of a laboratory; system examples are given. The author shows how both task and data systems have evolved, and how they interrelate. A BIG picture, or continuum view, is presented and some of the reasons for success or failure of the various examples cited are explored. Finally, some comments on future automation need are discussed.</p>","PeriodicalId":22600,"journal":{"name":"The Journal of Automatic Chemistry","volume":"17 3","pages":"83-8"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1155/S1463924695000149","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"27795322","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
J F Place, A Truchaud, K Ozawa, H Pardue, P Schnipelsky
{"title":"Use of artificial intelligence in analytical systems for the clinical laboratory.","authors":"J F Place, A Truchaud, K Ozawa, H Pardue, P Schnipelsky","doi":"10.1155/S1463924695000010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/S1463924695000010","url":null,"abstract":"The incorporation of information-processing technology into analytical systems in the form of standard computing software has recently been advanced by the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI), both as expert systems and as neural networks. This paper considers the role of software in system operation, control and automation, and attempts to define intelligence. AI is characterized by its ability to deal with incomplete and imprecise information and to accumulate knowledge. Expert systems, building on standard computing techniques, depend heavily on the domain experts and knowledge engineers that have programmed them to represent the real world. Neural networks are intended to emulate the pattern-recognition and parallel processing capabilities of the human brain and are taught rather than programmed. The future may lie in a combination of the recognition ability of the neural network and the rationalization capability of the expert system. In the second part of the paper, examples are given of applications of AI in stand-alone systems for knowledge engineering and medical diagnosis and in embedded systems for failure detection, image analysis, user interfacing, natural language processing, robotics and machine learning, as related to clinical laboratories. It is concluded that AI constitutes a collective form of intellectual propery, and that there is a need for better documentation, evaluation and regulation of the systems already being used in clinical laboratories.","PeriodicalId":22600,"journal":{"name":"The Journal of Automatic Chemistry","volume":"17 1","pages":"1-15"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1155/S1463924695000010","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"27794489","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
J Babiak, B Lucotch, A Russo, L Heydt, S Williams, R McCaully
{"title":"The trials and tribulations of a robotic screening core.","authors":"J Babiak, B Lucotch, A Russo, L Heydt, S Williams, R McCaully","doi":"10.1155/S1463924695000095","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/S1463924695000095","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>It is well recognized within the pharmaceutical industry that high throughput screening is a valuable and rapid tool to identify novel chemical compounds that may lead to tomorrow's drugs. High throughput screening involves testing as many chemical compounds as quickly as possible against a defined molecular or cellular 'target' (for example an enzyme) in the hope that interacting compounds may provide significant therapeutic benefits.At Wyeth-Ayerst Research, a Robotics and Automation Research Core Group has been established which serves as the in-house resource for high throughput screening. The robotics group has three missions: (1) develop and perform high throughput screens for customers in all therapeutic departments in the company; (2) educate customers in issues related to screen design; and (3) help customers to bring automated workstations into their laboratories. The mission, therefore, requires the effective use of automation, as well as building a strong collaboration with customers.THE CHALLENGES THAT HAVE BEEN FACED FALL INTO TWO CATEGORIES: technology limiting and customer relations. Technological challenges arise because it is necessary to develop and implement assays with very different formats and biochemical endpoints within extremely shortened time frames. The primary means to meet these challenges is with flexible robotics and flexible people. Challenges in the area of customer relations include setting realistic expectations, maintaining a sense of collaboration (and not merely service), educating investigators as to how to deal with the huge amount of data generated and seeking feedback. Effective and frequent communication, and an awareness of each individual's perspective, are essential to provide the most appropriate service.</p>","PeriodicalId":22600,"journal":{"name":"The Journal of Automatic Chemistry","volume":"17 2","pages":"55-8"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1155/S1463924695000095","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"27795317","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The human side of automation: experience in clinical pharmacology.","authors":"J R Powell","doi":"10.1155/S1463924695000162","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/S1463924695000162","url":null,"abstract":"A vision of automation presented by the media is that robots are inherently smarter than humans. Robots whirl around efficiently doing a complex, tedious task. A single human monitors and programs many robots and markedly increases productivity and quality, while many previously employed, error-prone employees collect their unemployment benefit. My experience of automation from an industrial clinical pharmacology department is quite different fiom this. In an environment where workload and complexity increase progressively in the face of a fixed human and financial resource, seeking efficiency through automation has been synonymous with success, if not survival. In addition to using robots to automate physical processes, we automate intbrmation with computers and standardize repetitive, labour intensive tasks with more efficient processes. Direct by-products of the increased productivity through automation are enhanced creativity and job satisfaction. The irony to me is that automation is by its nature, very human. Betbre can describe automation in my environment I have to explain the nature of our work and the challenges We face. In our drug development environment, clinical pharma-cology is the customer of preclinical development in pharmacology, toxicology, drug metabolism and pharma-ceutics. We work with drug discovery and preclinical development to provide a clear phase I target for patient type, human dosage range estimate and route of administration. Clinical pharmacology customers are the phase II/III and IV therapeutic groups in gastrointestinal, cardio-vascular, infectious, central nervous systems, cancer, and respiratory diseases. We provide these groups an early estimate for drug safety, therapeutic activity, and dosage recommendations. International coordination is required between clinical pharmacology groups The overall complexity and required speed of our work is further challenged by the current re-engineering targets to increase productivity several tbld and decrease our development and FDA drug approval times. I hope this background picture demonstrates the acute need for efficiency in planning, research execution, decision making and flexibility to recycle our resource as needs change. Automation is not an interesting experiment it is central to our success! Glaxo has been a rapidly growing company for the past 15 years. The current clinical pharmacology department had its origins when a bioanalytical group was formed 10 years ago to service clinical studies. Seven years ago, pharmacokineticists were hired to service new formulations being developed for UK discovery drugs. Three years ago our mission expanded to bring new chemical entities into human phase I studies. The mission is now to advance or stop …","PeriodicalId":22600,"journal":{"name":"The Journal of Automatic Chemistry","volume":"17 3","pages":"95-8"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1155/S1463924695000162","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"27795324","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
C T Schembri, T L Burd, A R Kopf-Sill, L R Shea, B Braynin
{"title":"Centrifugation and capillarity integrated into a multiple analyte whole blood analyser.","authors":"C T Schembri, T L Burd, A R Kopf-Sill, L R Shea, B Braynin","doi":"10.1155/S1463924695000174","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/S1463924695000174","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A unique clinical chemistry analyser is described which processes 90 mul of whole blood (fingerstick or venous) into multiple aliquots of diluted plasma and reports the results of 12 tests in 14 min. To perform a panel of tests, the operator applies the unmetered sample directly into a single use, 8 cm diameter plastic rotor which contains the required liquid diluent and dry reagents. Using centrifugal and capillary forces, the rotor meters the required amount of blood, separates the red cells, meters the plasma, meters the diluent, mixes the fluids, distributes the fluid to the reaction cuvettes and mixes the reagents and the diluted plasma in the cuvettes. The instrument monitors the reagent reactions simultaneously using nine wavelengths, calculates the results from the absorbance data, and reports the results.</p>","PeriodicalId":22600,"journal":{"name":"The Journal of Automatic Chemistry","volume":"17 3","pages":"99-104"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1155/S1463924695000174","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"27795325","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Abstracts of papers presented at Flow Analysis VI: Toledo, Spain (8-11 June 1994).","authors":"","doi":"10.1155/S1463924695000058","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/S1463924695000058","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":22600,"journal":{"name":"The Journal of Automatic Chemistry","volume":"17 1","pages":"31-40"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1155/S1463924695000058","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"27794492","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
T Kanluan, S Tangvarasittichai, O Tangvarasittichai
{"title":"Evaluation of a random access analyser: BM/Hitachi 911.","authors":"T Kanluan, S Tangvarasittichai, O Tangvarasittichai","doi":"10.1155/S1463924695000332","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/S1463924695000332","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The performance of Boehringer Mannheim's BM/Hitachi 911 was evaluated for three months. The mean coeffcient of variation (CV) of the within-run and between-run imprecision of the 16 analytes were less than 1.16% (range 0.47-2.38%) and 1.35% (range 0.62-2.93,%), respectively. A linearity study for the various assays covered clinically important levels. No relevant drift was observed during an eight-hour assay nor was any sample-related carry-over detected. In all cases, the regression analyses (slopes) of the results obtainedfrom BM/Hitachi 911 and 717 were between the extreme values of 0.94 and 1.05. During the three months of operation, no major problem was encountered. The BM/Hitachi 911 was found to be easily operated, to require minimal attention and simple daily maintenance during operation.</p>","PeriodicalId":22600,"journal":{"name":"The Journal of Automatic Chemistry","volume":"17 6","pages":"213-8"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1155/S1463924695000332","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"27794505","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The electronic NOSE and its application to the manufacture of food products.","authors":"D Hodgins, D Sirnmonds","doi":"10.1155/S1463924695000277","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/S1463924695000277","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Electronic NOSE (Neotronics Olfactory Sensing Equipment) is an instrument which mimics the human olfactory sensory system. It analyses complex vapours and produces a simple output. In the food industry there are numerous examples where the aroma from the raw ingredients through to the final product are important. These aromas are currently analysed using human sensory panels or analytical equipment such as gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (GC/MS).The Electronic NOSE described in this paper was not developed to replace the GC/MS or the sensory panel but to provide an instrumental measure of aroma quality which would be related to and complement the current methodology. The Electronic NOSE is a robust system which can detect complex vapours at levels similar to the human, which means typically in the parts per billion range. The system produces an output which can be easily related to sensory data and is easy to interpret by a non-skilled operator. No part of this system reacts with the sample under test.</p>","PeriodicalId":22600,"journal":{"name":"The Journal of Automatic Chemistry","volume":"17 5","pages":"179-85"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1155/S1463924695000277","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"27795287","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Managing laboratory automation in a changing pharmaceutical industry.","authors":"M L Rutherford","doi":"10.1155/S1463924695000101","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/S1463924695000101","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The health care reform movement in the USA and increased requirements by regulatory agencies continue to have a major impact on the pharmaceutical industry and the laboratory. Laboratory management is expected to improve effciency by providing more analytical results at a lower cost, increasing customer service, reducing cycle time, while ensuring accurate results and more effective use of their staff. To achieve these expectations, many laboratories are using robotics and automated work stations. Establishing automated systems presents many challenges for laboratory management, including project and hardware selection, budget justification, implementation, validation, training, and support. To address these management challenges, the rationale for project selection and implementation, the obstacles encountered, project outcome, and learning points for several automated systems recently implemented in the Quality Control Laboratories at Eli Lilly are presented.</p>","PeriodicalId":22600,"journal":{"name":"The Journal of Automatic Chemistry","volume":"17 2","pages":"59-63"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1995-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1155/S1463924695000101","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"27795318","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}