The life sciences industry is expanding rapidly, with new innovations and breakthroughs being made every day. As the industry evolves and in the wake of Covid-19, there has been remarkable growth in genomic surveillance, breakthroughs in gene editing, and increased testing in healthcare, to name just a few examples.

At the same time, we are seeing the evolution of Lab 4.0 and lab spaces are becoming increasingly digitized and automated, to scale testing, speed up workflows, and improve research capabilities.

The drive to continue to advance discoveries in life sciences and the changing nature of the laboratory also draws attention to the experience of lab scientists.

The heart of a lab is ultimately the scientists who work there

Life science organizations can no longer afford for their labs to be a space where highly skilled and intelligent scientists are confined to their benches to perform easily automatable tasks – as this model doesn’t maximize available technology and restricts the ability to scale.

Highly qualified lab staff should be at the forefront of discovery and have time to focus their efforts on driving innovation. Automation, as part of Lab 4.0, is key to giving them back this valuable time while also improving the quality and quantity of samples processed.

Open, integrated automation

Previous approaches to automation over the last decade have been limited to specialized benchtop instruments, which only partially addressed repetitive tasks. Manual steps and sample transfers between instruments still consume scientists’ valuable time, so to connect labs and empower the scientists in today’s labs a new approach to automation is vital: open, integrated automation.

This model digitally and robotically connects multiple devices within a workflow and helps to relieve lab staff of conducting time-consuming manual steps in between processes, transferring samples between instruments, and the associated dead time spent waiting on these instruments to finish processing. Instead, scientists can dedicate time to data analysis and experimental design.

Relieving the stress

Scientific discovery also requires large data sets, meaning labs are often required to process high numbers of samples to gather enough data to prove or disprove a hypothesis.

In a manual situation, processing these large sets of samples would require long hours for employees, especially if working to an external deadline. However, in a lab with an open, integrated automation system, this process can be more productive without taking a toll on the workforce. While scientists can clock off as needed, automated labs can get to work during even the most unsociable hours. By automating entire workflows this way, systems can operate 24/7 – during evenings and weekends – eliminating the need for technicians to work overtime to complete tasks. Technology can be used to dramatically reduce manual touchpoints and maximize productivity. For a genomics lab using Automata to automate the quality control process, this approach reduced the time needed for manual setup for 200 samples from six hours and 10 minutes to just 15 minutes, for example.

Unlocking precision with ease

It is estimated that 70-80% of all healthcare decisions affecting diagnosis or treatment involve a pathology investigation. Yet, in a recent Agilent survey, ‘unreliable results’ were cited as the top factor impacting lab productivity.

No two people will act in exactly the same way, but when it comes to scientific testing and development, repeatability and standardization are critical to maintaining a controlled environment. Even minor variations could lead to further errors down the line and render the experiment unreliable.

Automated robotic solutions can continuously perform the same task without variation. Automata’s solutions have helped several labs reduce their manual set-up time, and in one scenario reduced touchpoints from 1,388 to just seven.

With Lab 4.0 comes a more flexible, adaptable, and end-to-end approach which will improve the quality and quantity of data generated for research

Having an automated system in place means that not only does it reduce repetitive tasks and reclaim this time to unlock the room for scientists to think and analyze workflows, but it can also generate a high volume of accurate results that improve overall data quality and repeatability, while also saving scientists from the time burden of redoing menial steps within the workflow.

The heart of a lab is ultimately the scientists who work there. The life science industry is advancing rapidly, and Lab 4.0 is ushering more technology into lab spaces. With open, integrated automation