LIMSource News: What's New Right Now

• Bruker AXS to Acquire X-Ray Analysis Software Company SOCABIM
• Rockwell Automation Announces New Propack Data PMX MES for Life Sciences
• ACD/LogD Suite Selected by Degussa as (Q)SAR Tool for Registering Chemicals Under EU REACH Mandate
• Thermo Electron Announces Major Laboratory Informatics Conference
• SAP and Siemens Announce Cooperation to Deliver Integrated Solution to Manufacturing Companies
• Tripos Announces New Suite of Innovative Laboratory Informatics Software
• Tripos Deploys Industry-Leading Enterprise Chemical Informatics System at Schering AG
• Autoscribe Promotes Completely Configurable Support Helpdesk Management System
• Intelli Innovations Releases Barcode Producer 3.6
• Protedyne Corporation Adds Innovative Centrifuge-Vacuum Hybrid Protocol for Molecular Diagnostics to BioCube System
• Protedyne to Install BioCube System at Correlagen Diagnostics Laboratory
• Protedyne Adds Vision Verification to BioCube System
• QSI Promotes WinLIMS as QMS Solution
• ClinPhone Introduces New State-of-the-Art Data Center Following Recent Influx of New Business
• IDBS Launches E-WorkBook, a Comprehensive Electronic Laboratory Notebook
• Cordys Moves Application Activities into New Company 'bizzApps'
• Thermo Electron Sets New Course for CDS with Atlas 8.0
• AMARTUS Releases TargetWatch SDMS and TargetWatch EDMS Versions 1.4
• Thermo Electron Enhances Data Archiving and Plate Planning with Nautilus 7.0
• New Watson LIMS - Xcalibur Digital Interface from Thermo Electron Promotes GLP and 21 CFR Part 11 Compliance
• Major Environmental Lab Upgrades SEDD and Related Federal Deliverables Technologies with ChemWare LIMS
• Nation's Capitol Selects HORIZON LIMS for Public Health Lab Automation Solution
• Waters Corporation Partners with OEM ChemWare to Provide an Information Management Solution for Managing PHL Laboratory Data
• Marion County Health Department Steps Up Investments in Advanced Laboratory Automation Technologies
• ITOCHU's CTCLS and STARLIMS Address Japanese LIMS Market
• EISC Offers Free Limited Trial Version of its Analytical Review & Reporting Software Suite
• Siemens Releases New Solution Driven MES-Software
• Wavefront Software Introduces Wavefront LIMS 2005
• Waters Corporation Introduces Empower 2 Software
• Waters Corporation Announces Major Release of NuGenesis SDMS
• Avecia Selects Waters Empower Software as Strategic CDS Platform for Validation and Regulatory Compliance
• Waters MassLynx Software Expands Information Management and Collaboration Capabilities
• Waters eLab Notebook Software Extends Reach to Support Chemical Synthesis Work
• Accelerated Technology Laboratories, Inc. Acquires Zimet Associates, Inc.
• ATL Introduces Sample Master XP 8.0 and ScreenIT Pro LIMS
• Teranode and Bumgarner Lab at University of Washington Collaborate on Microarray Best Practices
• ClinPhone Launches New Web-based Clinical Trial Management System
• Agilent Introduces Lab Resource Management Service for Large Labs
• National Instruments Unveils LabVIEW Graphical Programming for Embedded Design
• CSols Announces New L4L Instrument Interface Product for the Pharmaceutical Marketplace
• CSols Announces the Launch of IntegraLab
• Bio-Rad's KnowItAll System 5.0 Offers World’s First Multi-Technique Spectral Searching System
• Bio-Rad Releases Eight New ADME/Tox Databases
• Bio-Rad Extends Powered by KnowItAll Software and Database Outsourcing Services Program
• Dionex Releases Version 6.7 of Chromeleon Chromatography Management Software
• ACD States Laboratory Data Management Bottleneck Overcome with ACD/Automation Server
• ACD/Labs Announces the Interlinkage of Chromatographic and Spectral Data within the ACD/SpecManager Portfolio of Products
• M. D. Anderson Cancer Center Streamlines Paperwork with EELIMS from Stone Bond Technologies
• EISC Awarded Patent for its SDMS for Laboratory Data Quality and Production
• Autoscribe Announces Outstanding First Quarter Results
• ATL Announces ISO 9001:2000 Certification for the Fourth Consecutive Year
• ABB Expert Optimizer Project Increases Clinker Production by 8 % at Holcim Italia’s Cement Plant
• FDA Launches Program for Quality Assessment System
• Crawford Confirmed as FDA Commissioner
• FDA Releases Guidance on Safety Testing for Drug Metabolites

Bruker AXS to Acquire X-Ray Analysis Software Company SOCABIM

Bruker AXS GmbH has signed a binding agreement to acquire all shares of privately-held SOCABIM SAS, a company focused on advanced X-ray materials research and analysis software. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2006. SOCABIM was founded in 1977 and has developed into a major supplier of software for X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) materials analysis to Bruker AXS. With this
acquisition, Bruker AXS is significantly expanding its core technology base in two of its strategic product and applications areas. The acquisition will not add to Bruker AXS' revenue, but is expected to increase the Bruker AXS gross margin by more than one percent. For Bruker BioSciences Corporation the transaction is expected to be accretive by $0.01 per share in 2006. Bruker AXS intends to merge and co-locate SOCABIM SAS and its
French subsidiary Bruker AXS SA near Paris. The two co-founders of SOCABIM, Mr. Julien Nusinovici and Mr. Pierre Caussin, as well as all present employees of SOCABIM, are expected to join the merged company, with Mr. Nusinovici and Mr. Caussin continuing their role as senior managers of the SOCABIM division of the merged company. For details, visit http://www.bruker-biosciences.com.

Rockwell Automation Announces New Propack Data PMX MES for Life Sciences

Rockwell Automation has announced the latest version of its Enterprise Production Management (EPM) software focused on the life sciences industry — Propack Data PMX MES 4.1. The new version supports cost-effective, risk-based manufacturing approaches through fast electronic batch record reviews, flexible and controlled operator work instructions, and on-demand views of production information from raw material receipt through product release. This newest version also provides extended equipment and material flow capabilities to track and manage raw materials, work-in-process and final products. With browser-based clients and seamless integration to Rockwell Software RSBizWare Batch, Rockwell Software RSBizWare Historian and third party batch and historian systems, users can access manufacturing information on-demand and fast-track electronic batch record reviews. Propack Data PMX MES also is validation-ready for rapid, compliant-ready implementations and overall lower total cost of ownership. This new release of Propack Data PMX MES 4.1 has two enhancements that help the pharmaceutical industry in the current challenging business and regulatory environment. The first is their out-of-the-box integration with Rockwell Automation and other automation supplier batch execution and process historian products. This tighter integration and ability to integrate with some currently installed base will improve ROI by reduce engineering and validation costs. Second, this integration capability and the significantly enhanced ‘view-by-exception’ EBR will help users meet the FDA’s scientific risk-based regulatory initiatives. For details, visit http://www.rockwellautomation.com.

ACD/LogD Suite Selected by Degussa as (Q)SAR Tool for Registering Chemicals Under EU REACH Mandate

Advanced Chemistry Development, Inc., (ACD/Labs) has announced that the Services Environment, Safety Health Chemicals Safety Management Department of Degussa AG at Hanau, Germany, will use ACD/LogD Suite software as a (Q)SAR tool to evaluate the structure-activity relationships of many existing chemical substances on the European Union (EU) market. Under a new regulatory framework for chemicals proposed by the European Commission to improve health and environmental protection, chemicals require re-evaluation to gain better knowledge of their potential risks on human health and the environment. Under the future REACH (Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of CHemicals) system proposed by the Commission’s Future Chemicals Policy, enterprises that manufacture or import more than one tonne of a chemical substance per year will be required to register data for that substance with a central authority. This authority will then evaluate the data and apply authorization requirements to substances of high concern. This system will apply to new substances, along with over 30,000 existing substances that are marketed in high volumes, including a number of substances manufactured by Degussa. The use of (Q)SARs is currently limited within EU legislation, however, under the REACH system, they will be used more extensively in the interests of time- and cost-effectiveness. ACD/LogD Suite will provide Degussa with a full array of tools for evaluating the structure-activity relationships of their compounds, among those logD (as a pH-dependent measure of hydrophobicity), pKa, and logP. The logPow value as a criterion for hydrophobicity plays a crucial role for the prediction of the partition behavior of chemical substances between environmental compartments (water, soil, sediment) and the assessment of the tendency to bioaccumulate. Details on the European Commission’s REACH program and the use of (Q)SARs in regulatory processes can be found at the European Chemicals Bureau web site, http://ecb.jrc.it.

Thermo Electron Announces Major Laboratory Informatics Conference

Thermo Informatics World 2005, Thermo Electron's Annual User Conference and Training Program, will be held at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point in Bonita Springs, FL from September 19-23. This annual users conference provides a series of customer presentations, product development discussions, user networking and training sessionsall to do with Thermo Electron products and services, from analytica instruments such as HPLC to software solutions such as their market-leading LIMS. A second European user conference will be held in November (see below) in Nice, France. For details, visit http://www.thermo.com/informatics.

SAP and Siemens Announce Cooperation to Deliver Integrated Solution to Manufacturing Companies

SAP AG, an enterprise software provider, and Siemens Automation and Drives (A&D), a supplier of automation and drive technologies, have announced plans to coordinate their plant IT solutions. The goal of this strategic alliance is the "Real-time Enterprise" with efficient inter-relating of IT processes from business management to production. According to the companies, the coordinated approach will enable production companies to respond more flexibly and rapidly to order fluctuations, to introduce new products into the market more quickly, and to achieve higher productivity for their production lines. Until now, SAP focused on software solutions for business management processes while Siemens A&D concentrated on the control and optimization of production systems. The cooperation is aimed at medium-sized and large companies in the manufacturing industries and initially applies to the chemicals and food and beverages sectors with continuous extension to other sectors being planned. SAP and Siemens will develop industry scenarios and prototypes jointly with key customers. As a first step, the software interfaces of Siemen's Simatic IT and SAP's NetWeaver Enterprise Portal will be harmonized. For details, visit http://www.SAP.com or http://www.siemens.com.

Tripos Announces New Suite of Innovative Laboratory Informatics Software

Tripos, Inc., a leading provider of drug discovery informatics products and chemistry research, has announced the availability of its new laboratory informatics product suite, Benchware, to be launched at the Drug Discovery Technology (DDT) Conference in Boston, Aug. 9-11, 2005. Tripos developed Benchware in direct response to customer demand for more intuitive and scientifically robust predictive chemistry, scientific planning and collaboration applications designed for laboratory scientists. Benchware applications are used by laboratory researchers to support chemical synthesis and testing decisions; digitally store, search and retrieve research information; and share experimental results with project team members, including computational scientists. With the introduction of its new Benchware laboratory informatics suite, Tripos adds a second major product line to its discovery informatics portfolio, which already includes the SYBYL suite of computational informatics applications. SYBYL is a molecular modeling software suite. Tripos' new Benchware portfolio includes the following products: Benchware 3D Explorerfor chemical visualization and decision support capabilities; Benchware HTS DataMiner for location, definition and prioritization of prospective lead series from screening data sets; Benchware LibraryMaker for rapidly enumerating parallel compound libraries as well as very large virtual combinatorial libraries; and, Benchware LibraryDesigner for deciding which reactants to use when making parallel compound libraries. For details, visit http://www.tripos.com.

Tripos Deploys Industry-Leading Enterprise Chemical Informatics System at Schering AG

Tripos, Inc., a leading provider of drug discovery informatics products and chemistry research, has reached a milestone in its development of an Enterprise Chemical Information Management System (ECIMS) at Schering AG, Germany. ECIMS was deployed to more than 250 users at Schering's sites in Richmond, Calif., in the United States and Berlin and Jena in Germany. Built on an electronic laboratory notebook platform, the ECIMS solution stores chemical data and provides support for planning, synthesis and logistics of all compounds. Specifically, ECIMS allows scientists to efficiently manage research plans; access chemical information from across the organization; prioritize experiments and avoid redundancies; and immediately determine what materials are on hand to use in their research. Many of the technologies developed as part of the ECIMS solution will be commercially available as new Tripos Discovery Informatics products, including a new electronic laboratory notebook product that will be formally launched later this summer. For details, visit http://www.tripos.com.

Autoscribe Promotes Completely Configurable Support Helpdesk Management System

Autoscribe’s Support Management System (SMS) is a powerful, completely configurable, easy-to-use and out of the box tool for the complete management of all Helpdesk support functions. The system is designed to help companies track issues and automatically manage and track them through to resolution. SMS is used by Autoscribe’s own Technical Software Support team and is built on their Matrix LIMS software. SMS software is used for logging and tracking all support calls and has numerous features, from call and response time recording to flagging of expired support agreements. Customer contact details such as names, e-mail addresses and telephone numbers can all be stored in SMS. Upon receiving a call from a customer, the company from which he/she is calling can be selected from SMS. The support personnel can then enter the cause of the problem in a field that is not limited in length. The solution provided can be entered in another similar field. The amount of time taken to respond to the call and then to resolve the issue is recorded along with descriptions stored in the text fields. A record is made of who is responsible for the issue. Details of customer’s support agreements are held in SMS and a notification is automatically given if this has lapsed. Reports include lists of support calls per selected time period and by selected problem type, for example. In addition, calls may be listed in a further report. For details, visit http://www.autoscribe.co.uk.

Intelli Innovations Releases Barcode Producer 3.6

Intelli Innovations has released Barcode Producer version 3.6, a point update to its award-winning barcode generation suite for Mac OS X. This update adds Spotlight integration, enhanced 13-digit ISBN support, POSTNET preview, enhanced printing, and other improvements. New in this revision are Spotlight Integration for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, and Enhanced Bookland EAN and 13-digit ISBN support. Barcode Producer can now automatically convert a 10-digit ISBN to a 13-digit ISBN and create the related barcode with the proper check digits. Barcode Producer fully supports Sunrise 2005 standards and allows users to create, among others, EAN-13, UPC-A, and ITF-14 vector barcode graphics. In addition, a new "Install Optional OCR Fonts" menu option guides the user through the process of placing the optional OCR fonts on their system. And, a new printing functionality enables fast access to a printed copy of the barcode for proofing and validation. Users can validate a printed barcode's readability with the Barcode Producer software. Barcode Producer is $149.00 for Mac OS X. This release is a free upgrade for all Barcode Producer 3.x license holders. For details, visit
http://www.intellisw.com/barcodeproducer.

Protedyne Corporation Adds Innovative Centrifuge-Vacuum Hybrid Protocol for Molecular Diagnostics to BioCube System

Protedyne Corporation, a leading lab automation provider, has announced the availability of a centrifuge-vacuum hybrid protocol for nucleic acid extraction. The protocol is designed for use on the BioCube System, the company’s advanced laboratory automation platform. The preparation of high quality DNA samples from blood is paramount for molecular diagnostic applications. The Protedyne Centrifuge-Vacuum Hybrid Protocol combines centrifugation to clear blood lysates in membrane-based extraction protocols with downstream vacuum manifolds to manage the multiple wash steps required to achieve high purity DNA. The faster processing afforded by vacuum manifolds is indispensable for high throughput sample testing. Protedyne’s hybrid protocol combines this gain in efficiency with a reduction in sample failure rates resulting from the clogged wells common to vacuum-only systems. For details, visit http://www.protodyne.com.

Protedyne to Install BioCube System at Correlagen Diagnostics Laboratory

Protedyne Corporation, a leading laboratory automation supplier, has been selected by Correlagen Diagnostics, Inc. to provide automation to the Cambridge, MA company. The two companies signed agreements to automate Correlagen’s Genes That Matter gene testing service, including the setup of gene sequencing reactions, nucleic acid purification, and cleanup. “We’re delighted to have been chosen by Correlagen as their automation partner. Correlagen is just the type of company that will benefit greatly from Protedyne’s total solution approach to automation,” said Catherine Williams, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Protedyne. “The BioCube System is a perfect complement to the advanced work being done at Correlagen.” “The integration of a BioCube System with Correlagen’s proprietary software will enable Correlagen to sequence human genes for clinical diagnostic purposes at very low cost,” said David M. Margulies, M.D., Correlagen’s Chief Executive Office. “We are impressed with the elegant engineering that Protedyne brings to the processes of laboratory automation and plan to launch our next line of sequencing assays on a BioCube System this fall,” added Margulies. For details, visit http://www.protodyne.com.

Protedyne Adds Vision Verification to BioCube System

Protedyne Corporation, a leading lab automation provider, has announced the availability of a Vision Verification System on the BioCube System, the company’s sophisticated automation platform. The Vision Verification System can be used for a variety of applications such as detecting clogs in filter plates or documenting pipetting procedures. The Vision Verification System has two important components, a labware camera and a tip camera.
For most diagnostic applications, the tip camera can be employed to document the pipetting of primary patient samples and/or critical reagents. The camera can detect if clots, bubbles or low volume of sample interfered with proper aspirating or dispensing of liquids. For nucleic acid purification applications, the labware camera can detect a clogged well in a filter plate after the lysate clearing step. Clogged wells are automatically detected, documented and can be corrected before proceeding. Using LILY, the BioCube System’s data management software, the vision analysis results are stored in real-time, along with images associated with the samples.
The Protedyne Vision Verification System will bring real-time quality control to diagnostic laboratories that are urgently in need of advanced process control in their testing. For details, visit http://www.protodyne.com.

QSI Promotes WinLIMS as QMS Solution

According to Clive Collier, Marketing Director of Quality Systems International (QSI), the functionality in the company's WinLIMS package now covers not only LIMS applications but also the diverse needs of a QMS. Document control, formulations and process steps, health and safety, training and qualifications, complaints and corrective actions, risk assessments, and batch traceability are just some of the QMS components included as
standard in WinLIMS. Said Collier: "On many occasions when we've been demonstrating WinLIMS, customers have remarked that what we have is a QMS rather than just a LIMS. Laboratory managers have then called in their IT departments, who get very excited because they can see the cost benefits of just buying WinLIMS instead of a LIMS plus separate QMS applications software". QMS documents can be associated with any WinLIMS record if required - a typical Health and Safety application might be the association of a hazard data sheet with a particular raw material specification and then to any samples taken to test that material. With LIMS and QMS applications integrated in the one package, WinLIMS, usability and data accessibility are much
improved. For example a complaint can be traced directly to a production batch, then, because of batch traceability, back to the raw material batches that went into the formulation. QSI believe that this depth of QMS
functionality is unique to their WinLIMS package. For details, visit http://www.lims-software.co.uk.

ClinPhone Introduces New State-of-the-Art Data Center Following Recent Influx of New Business

ClinPhone, a global leader in clinical technology solutions, has introduced its new data center following the successful growth of the business. This new center will work in tandem with ClinPhone's existing data center infrastructure, enabling the company to cope with growing client demands. Enhancing this infrastructure will
provide the company with the capability to deal with a higher volume of studies, doubling the inbound Interactive Voice Response (IVR) calls capacity to two million per month. The opening of this new center coincides with the major release of ClinPhone's new Oracle based Application Platform. This new release enables ClinPhone, an Oracle business partner, to provide additional functionality and strong enterprise data management for its customers. The introduction of the new data center will provide a multitude of scalability and capacity
benefits for ClinPhone's customers. These will include increasing the fax capacity, telecommunications, data storage and physical computing capacity. These capacity increases will benefit the Company's outbound services as well as its inbound IVR and Interactive Web Response (IWR) capabilities, contributing to higher availability targets. The new facility will also use a high-tech storage and backup software platform from IBM, which will
guarantee that all data collected is safer, more efficient and available 24/7 For details, visit http://www.clinphone.com.

IDBS Launches E-WorkBook, a Comprehensive Electronic Laboratory Notebook

IDBS has announced the launch of E-WorkBook – a comprehensive, secure and extensible next generation electronic laboratory notebook (ELN) designed for R&D scientists of any discipline. The flexibility underpinning E-WorkBook allows all drug discovery scientists – including chemists, biologists and pharmacologists - to record, share and report all relevant experimental information electronically in a practical, secure and compliant way. "Practicality has to be the key word for any ELN," says Dr Paul Denny-Gouldson, IDBS Product Manager for E-WorkBook. "Our starting point with E-WorkBook was that such a system must fit into the R&D scientist's existing routine and systems as seamlessly as possible. Only in this way can we be sure of a positive reception and uptake. Fortunately, we could draw on unrivalled "realworld" knowledge - our experience as former R&D scientists and also from developing leading discovery data management tools such as ActivityBase. The resulting E-WorkBook we believe provides a flexible, configurable and easy-to-use solution that will be welcomed by scientists of all disciplines. It offers open access and works with all standard tools – in short any scientist within the team should be able to start using it very quickly." In addition to meeting the individual scientist's requirements, E-WorkBook will also appeal at the corporate level. "Regulatory compliance, 21 CFR part 11, and IP protection are fundamental to the commercial success of today's drug companies and are all made possible through E-WorkBook," continues Dr Denny-Gouldson. "We are therefore providing E-WorkBook as a core component of our integrated enterprise data management solution for drug discovery." For details, visit http://www.id-bs.com/ELN.

Cordys Moves Application Activities into New Company 'bizzApps'

Cordys, a global software company, has intensified the focus on its platform activities and moved its application activities into a separate organization called bizzApps. Cordys considers further focus the key for success of both platform and applications activities. Separating the platform from the applications business, Cordys expects to better meet customer's needs by allowing staff to focus more on their core competencies. Cordys, formerly known as Vanenburg, is a global provider of real-time enabling and application solutions, including the Quality Navigator integrated enterprise quality management suite. As a result of the separation, the activities around Cordys' lean manufacturing solutions viz. the Quality Manager and Kanban Manager have been transferred into a separate company called bizzApps. This company will focus on building best-in-class service oriented business applications based on Cordys' Business Collaboration Platform. bizzApps will serve as a model ISV alliance to other companies, using Cordys as the platform of choice. bizzApps will solely focus on solutions for the manufacturing industry. The company will enable manufacturing enterprises to achieve operational excellence through standards based off-the-shelf packaged composite applications to optimize business processes across their value chain. For details, visit http://www.cordys.com or http://www.bizzapps.com.

Thermo Electron Sets New Course for CDS with Atlas 8.0

Thermo Electron Corporation has announced a major stability release with version 8.0 of the Atlas chromatography data system (CDS), providing significant enhancements in data acquisition and integration with laboratory information management systems (LIMS) for greater productivity in the lab. In Atlas 8.0, major improvements were made to the instrument control architecture to enhance network resilience. A key focus of the release was to ensure secure, robust communication between the instrument and Atlas software. "We recognize that LIMS and CDS integration is a key issue for laboratories," said Dave Champagne, vice president and general manager of Thermo's Informatics business. "Customers need easy access to their data to make better informed decisions. In Atlas 8.0 and SampleManager, our flagship LIMS for the enterprise, we are providing better integration than ever before." Built for enterprise applications, Atlas provides a single solution that not only integrates data streams from multiple instruments manufactured by multiple vendors, but also tightly integrates with LIMS that typically store summary results for each analysis. Tight integration between the LIMS and CDS enables users to access critical data when faced with a decision where the QA/QC source data is needed immediately. The robust enhancements and interoperability with Thermo's LIMS are designed for consistent reporting and shared data that increases productivity. For details, visit http://www.thermo.com/informatics.

AMARTUS Releases TargetWatch SDMS and TargetWatch EDMS Versions 1.4

Amartus, an innovative Life Science software solutions & services company based in Dublin, Ireland, has announced release 1.4 of its TargetWatch SDMS, a Web-based Scientific Data Management System (SDMS) that enables research organisations to capture, track and share diverse research data in a secure centralised data warehouse. As the number of tools to generate scientific data increases so too does the diversity of data formats being generated. TargetWatch SDMS helps researchers achieve this by providing a secure centralised location where research teams can capture and exchange data in a project centric manner whether they are in the same building or across the globe. TargetWatch SDMS is built on an open and scalable architecture and can be tailored to meet the needs of each discovery environment. The core TargetWatch SDMS platform supports a host of standard and optional features designed to assist researchers. These features include the creation of secure hierarchical project structures, management of all file types (instrument, analysis, desktop etc), automated document management, electronic signatures for legal & regulator compliance and integrated access and tracking for key BioMedical databases (PubMed, OMIM, Gene, Protein etc). TargetWatch can be accessed via a standard desktop Web browser and has extensive security and traceability support to protect data. For details, visit http://www.amartus.com.

Thermo Electron Enhances Data Archiving and Plate Planning with Nautilus 7.0

Thermo Electron Corporation has announced greater speed and efficiency in data archiving and plate planning
with version 7.0 of Nautilus LIMS. Nautilus is Thermo's dedicated LIMS for early stage discovery in
biotechnology research and discovery. Nautilus' new archiving functionality allows users to automatically transfer data from active tables to archived tables and back again, using interactive and background tools. Multiple archives can be created in Nautilus, so all data related to a specific experiment or study can be collected in - and more easily retrieved from - a designated archive. Plate Plans in Nautilus are used to automate activities carried out on single or groups of plates. Users can monitor the progress of experiments, group and organize plates, execute actions and add workflows to be carried out on the plates within the plan. In addition, image results are now supported in Nautilus, which enables image files to be stored in the database as results and visualized within the application using the Result Browser. Essential to high throughput laboratories, visualization speeds interpretation and analysis of results. "With Nautilus 7.0, we set out to provide new functionality around plate planning and visualization to better serve our drug discovery customers," said Colin Thurston, Nautilus product manager. "Along with data archiving, this version of Nautilus extends our capabilities for high throughput environments and demonstrates our commitment to Nautilus users." First released in 1998, Nautilus is a flexible, configurable and easily implemented LIMS that was developed in partnership with key customers in R&D environments. For details, visit http://www.thermo.com/informatics.

New Watson LIMS - Xcalibur Digital Interface from Thermo Electron Promotes GLP and 21 CFR Part 11 Compliance

Thermo Electron Corporation has introduced a new bi-directional digital interface between its Watson LIMS and Xcalibur mass spectrometry (MS) software to promote compliance with Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) standards and 21 CFR Part 11 electronic records keeping regulations. "The bi-directional digital interface ensures the rapid and secure transfer of analytical run information directly from Watson to Xcalibur and the return of results back to Watson without an intermediate file,” said Joel Usansky, Ph.D., product manager for Watson LIMS. "Traditional file-based interfaces involve importing a LIMS-generated sequence file into an instrument control software system like Xcalibur, and then a results file back into a LIMS. That means text files have the potential to be lost, misplaced or changed, which exposes a laboratory to possible non-compliance with GLP or 21 CFR Part 11 regulations. Seamlessly integrating Thermo software solutions eliminates the need to import text files, and therefore promotes compliance and improves laboratory efficiency.” The Watson LIMS - Xcalibur integration is enabled through an XML-based instrument gateway, which facilitates data transfer between the LIMS and the MS instrument control software. The Watson 7.2 release, developed to support Oracle 10g, includes numerous enhancements, including study sign-off, custom study fields, and analysis of solutions and preparations. Watson is specifically designed to support drug metabolism and pharmacokinetic (DMPK) studies in drug development. The system communicates with external software from instruments such as LC/MS, ICP-MS, HPLC and other systems via file-based and digital interfaces. The Xcalibur software is a flexible Windows-based data system, providing instrument control and data analysis for the entire family of Thermo’s mass spectrometers including the Finnigan TSQ Quantum triple quadrupole mass spectrometer series. For details, visit http://www.thermo.com/informatics.

Major Environmental Lab Upgrades SEDD and Related Federal Deliverables Technologies with ChemWare LIMS

Analytical Laboratory Services Inc. (ALSI), a "Top 50" (by revenues) full service environmental laboratory headquartered in Middletown, PA, is currently implementing HORIZON's highest level of automated deliverables technologies. ALSI is replacing its first generation commercial LIMS with HORIZON's CLP-Like/SEDD Deliverables option, in order to address the complex data reporting and electronic deliverables requirements of its Army Corps of Engineers customers, as well as other customers requiring Federal-type ("validatable") reporting. For details, visit http://www.chemware.com.

Nation's Capitol Selects HORIZON LIMS for Public Health Lab Automation Solution

The District of Columbia Department of Health Services awarded ChemWare the public health laboratory LIMS contract on April 20, 2005. DHS is responsible for monitoring the public health of over five and a half million citizens in the nation's capitol and surrounding communities. The public health laboratory made headline news in March 2004 when it was inundated with thousands of homeowner samples to be tested for possible lead contamination. The laboratory is better positioning itself to respond to similar spikes in public health-related testing. For details, visit http://www.chemware.com.

Waters Corporation Partners with OEM ChemWare to Provide an Information Management Solution for Managing PHL Laboratory Data

Waters Corporation has announced it is expanding its efforts into the Public Health Laboratory (PHL) sector by providing an integrated information management solution with ChemWare, Inc. The announcement leverages the information management strengths of Waters NuGenesis Scientific Data Management System (SDMS) with ChemWare's HORIZON LIMS software to generate a single XML standard format from multiple, disparate data sources. PHLs throughout the U.S. are embarking on major modernization efforts, including much-needed upgrades to information management solutions for secure integration and exchange of public health-related data. This standard format helps improve automation and addresses the technical and data management requirements necessary to respond quickly to public health threats. For details, visit http://www.chemware.com.

Marion County Health Department Steps Up Investments in Advanced Laboratory Automation Technologies

The Marion County Health Department (MCHD) has announced plans for a major upgrade to its information technology infrastructure within its public health laboratories. The project involves implementation of HORIZON LIMS to address post-9/11 federal regulations, as well as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) data management requirements for public health laboratories.
MCHD serves the public health needs of Indianapolis, the nation’s 12th largest city, and their laboratories provide analytical support for communicable disease clinics in local health departments, conduct population-based disease surveillance and perform a variety of environmental monitoring and responses to outbreaks. HORIZON LIMS provides advanced laboratory automation and scientific data management capabilities designed to address the wide variety of sample sources, test methods, instruments, data types and data messaging protocols common to public health laboratories. For details, visit http://www.chemware.com.

ITOCHU's CTCLS and STARLIMS Address Japanese LIMS Market

STARLIMS Corporation, a leading global provider of LIMS, and CTC Laboratory Systems (CTCLS), distributors and system integrators of state-of-the-art computer systems and software, have announced the signing of an agreement for distribution and support of the STARLIMS software solution in Japan. CTCLS' selection of STARLIMS follows a lengthy evaluation process of commercial LIMS in the marketplace. "STARLIMS open standard technology, flexibility and ability to 'future proof' customer investments in internal know-how will be highly appreciated in the Japanese LIMS market" commented Katsuhisa Hirano, LIMS Technical Expert of CTCLS. "The STARLIMS software platform will enable us to meet the growing demand for migrating legacy LIMS systems to an internationally recognized commercial-off-the-shelf LIMS system." A subsidiary of ITOCHU TECHNO-SCIENCE Corporation (CTC), CTCLS is Japan's leading provider of total information technology solutions for pharmaceutical, chemical, oil & gas and food processing industries, as well as life sciences research institutions. CTCLS will provide STARLIMS business development, professional services and full local support to customers in a wide variety of vertical markets. According to Taizo Watanabe, President of CTCLS, "The Japanese market for commercial-off-the-shelf LIMS solutions is expected to grow noticeably in the coming years due to changing regulatory environments and on going investments towards operational excellence. STARLIMS offers cost effective complete solutions that will enable us to capture a healthy share of the market within a very short period." For details, visit http://www.starlims.com.

EISC Offers Free Limited Trial Version of its Analytical Review & Reporting Software Suite

EISC has announced a free limited trial version of its analytical Review & Reporting Software Suite (R&R Suite), which provides a scalable software suite for analytical lab production. The systems automatically perform the lab’s analytical review and seamlessly generate any reports and EDDs (including SEDD) in minutes, regardless of the format, with no change to the lab’s current analytical process. The R&R Suite connects to any and all instrumentation, works with or without a LIMS, streamlines and automates the lab’s quality assurance process/program, and eliminates manual entry, re-work and backlog. R&R Suite is applicable to Volatiles, Semi-Volatiles/HPLC, Pesticides/PCB’s, Metals, or General Chemistry. The limited trial version is production ready. For details, visit http://www.eisc.net.

Siemens Releases New Solution Driven MES-Software

Siemens Automation and Drives (A&D) has released a new version 6.1 of their Simatic IT MES (Manufacturing Execution Systems) software. Three new software components are involved with the release: Client Application Builder (CAB), a web-based MES client development environment; Data Integration Services (DIS), an XML-based tool to integrate control and production systems with enterprise transactional systems (i.e. SAP); and, Product Definition Manager (PDefM), an engineering environment for translating specification into manufacturing actions. Simatic IT version 6.1 will be available in July 2005. In addition, version 6.1 comes with a new sales approach, referred to as Simatic IT Bundles. The new Siemens offer is scalable and “solution driven”, allowing customers to “start, learn and grow“, beginning with so-called “entry point” bundles up to bundles with high functionality. Simatic IT Bundles address customer needs in scalability and transparency, according to typical manufacturing issues. Their upgrade to a higher level represents an evolution of functionality. The three new entry point bundles are Simatic IT Manufacturing Information System for data management, Simatic IT Genealogy for material management, and Simatic IT Order Management, which addresses order management. The three entry point bundles can be scaled to a higher level of functionality to Simatic IT Tracking & Tracing and Simatic IT Basic Production Management. For details, visit http://www.siemens.com/automation.

Wavefront Software Introduces Wavefront LIMS 2005

Wavefront Software has introduced their Wavefront LIMS 2005 solution. Wavefront LIMS 2005 is a robust, cost effective LIMS solution that leverages leading .NET and SQL server technologies. Delivering rich, out of the box functionality, LIMS 2005 is designed to meet key LIMS objectives of most laboratory environments by enabling flexibility to accommodate evolving business processes; ensuring the ability to scale for growth and increased usage; providing secure LIMS access from anywhere whether Intranet or Internet; and providing ease of integration with existing laboratory systems and integration. For details, visit http://www.wavefront.com.

Waters Corporation Introduces Empower 2 Software

Waters Corporation has introduced a new version of their Empower chromatography data system (CDS) software called Empower 2. Empower 2 provides enhancements in data management, software usability, instrument control and regulatory compliance. For example, customers now have features for tighter automated integration among Waters Laboratory Informatics Suite solutions such as Waters NuGenesis SDMS (Scientific Data Management System) and Waters eLab Notebook software. In addition, there is an enhanced single window interface allowing for complete instrument control to collect, process, customize and print chromatography data, as well as better tools to manage system availability and solvent consumption. Robust and comprehensive capabilities for greater granularity and flexibility for audit trail requirements round out the upgrades. Empower 2 will be available for shipment the third quarter of 2005. Customers under a current Waters Total Assurance Plan will receive a free software upgrade. For details, visit http://www.waters.com.

Waters Corporation Announces Major Release of NuGenesis SDMS

Waters Corporation has announced a new major release to its electronic information management platform, Waters NuGenesis SDMS (Scientific Data Management System) 7.0. This new release improves NuGenesis SDMS' ability to store and manage any type of scientific data. New capabilities include: support for Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) and new Help Desk and service management features for enhanced enterprise deployment and management; and, additional tool to convert raw file data into a standard format; tighter integration with Waters Empower software and Waters MassLynx and eLab Notebook software. For details, visit http://www.waters.com.

Avecia Selects Waters Empower Software as Strategic CDS Platform for Validation and Regulatory Compliance

Waters Corporation has announced that its flagship chromatography data solution, Empower software, has been deployed in gas chromatography labs by Avecia, a leading global fine and specialty chemicals company based in Manchester, United Kingdom. Sold with Waters Ultra Performance LC and HPLC instrumentation, Empower software allows scientists to collect data, control multiple instruments - from Waters as well as third-party vendors - and report on their findings using an intuitive interface for increased productivity. According to Robert Leask, Procurement Manager at Avecia, "Empower was compared against an intense list of user requirements for CDS. Its comprehensive capabilities were major factors in the decision, especially the software's computer validation and 21 CFR 11 features." Leask also said that the company's decision was influenced by Waters' reputation as an industry leader with a successful CDS track record. "Post-sales service, training, and support were other major considerations in the purchasing decision," he added. For details, visit http://www.waters.com.

Waters MassLynx Software Expands Information Management and Collaboration Capabilities

Waters has announced a new version of its mass spectrometry data solution MassLynx 4.1. Enhanced tools and new features for MassLynx include integrating mass spec data into an information-management solution, automating sample list processing, and simplifying security measures translate into a more efficient and productive laboratory. To simplify the user experience, QuanLynx and OpenLynx Application Managers are bundled with MassLynx 4.1 Software. Now, any level of user – f rom a technician to an experienced mass spectrometrist – can automate quantitative or qualitative processing, review results and generate reports. For users of the separately licensed OA Login OpenAccess Software, the new OpenLynx Administrator Tool Kit centralizes the management of equipment, data and users from a PC remote from OpenLynx OpenAccess Systems. MassLynx 4.1 seamlessly integrates with Waters NuGenesis SDMS (Scientific Data Management System) 7.0 to store raw mass spectrometry data and processed results over extended periods of time. Users can now centrally store and also repurpose MassLynx data stored in NuGenesis SDMS to collaborate with one another saving valuable time and furthering the analytical effort. Users can also easily launch the QuanLynx Application Manager browser from NuGenesis SDMS to view results. After reviewing and editing their results, users can also save directly to NuGenesis SDMS. MassLynx users can also capture printed information directly into NuGenesis SDMS with its patented print-to-database functionality. For details, visit http://www.waters.com.

Waters eLab Notebook Software Extends Reach to Support Chemical Synthesis Work

Waters Corporation and InfoChem GmbH have announced a collaboration whereby InfoChem's chemical reaction search technology and data collection will be integrated into Waters eLab Notebook software. Waters eLab Notebook software allows researchers to capture, process and record data of all types in a completely digital environment. Now, scientists will be able to design synthesis experiments using a search engine and an extensive library of chemical reactions as a valuable source of chemical synthesis knowledge. eLab Notebook Software centrally stores all results electronically for enterprise-wide access. Intelligent searches, including substructure and spectra similarity searches, allow easy retrieval of experimental information based on the analytical results that can then be incorporated into eLab Notebook content. InfoChem's structure and reaction search capabilities are based on the InfoChem Chemistry Cartridge which is designed to integrate chemical structure and reaction retrieval into relational databases. The application uses InfoChem's Fast Search Engine to handle and search millions of structures and reactions. For details, visit http://www.infochem.de or http://www.waters.com.

Accelerated Technology Laboratories, Inc. Acquires Zimet Associates, Inc.

Accelerated Technology Laboratories, Inc.(ATL) has purchased Zimet Associates, Inc. a New Jersey firm that provides engineering and computer consulting support. ATL, a provider of Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS), offers industry specific solutions with Sample Master Pro LIMS for the analytical laboratory, ScreenIT for manufacturing operations, and NeoMate for clinical data management. The acquisition will strengthen and expand ATL's products and service offerings specifically in the areas of office automation, information systems architecture and eCommerce solutions. Zimet provides the complete solution in hardware, OS software and networking computer systems for clients that lack internal IT resources. They specialize in the installation and maintenance of local area networks, engineering projects, computer systems, peripherals, networking, and eCommerce products, providing the most cost effective solution for business computing. For details, visit http://www.atlab.com.

ATL Introduces Sample Master XP 8.0 and ScreenIT Pro LIMS

Accelerated Technology Laboratories, Inc. (ATL) has released Sample Master XP 8.0 and ScreenIT Pro LIMS. Sample Master XP 8.0 LIMS delivers Web based sample login; AutoEmail and AutoFax functions for automatic reporting; new Quotes for inclusion of additional information such as tables, graphics, and text via a link to a MS Word document; a “one click” function for fast saving of complex queries; calculations across multiple tests; enhanced QC Batch creation; automatic addition of Data Qualifiers for samples and QC; improved Time Tracking functionality; unlimited number of sample conditions with selectable pulldown boxes; improved user interface and speed enhancements; and, Web based sample reporting. The ScreenIT Pro Automated Manufacturing Analysis System now includes enhanced Workload; enhanced Production and Backlog Reports; Certificates of Analysis; SPC Charts and multiple level specifications; multi-lingual support; and, integration with Northwest Analytical Quality Analyst Statistical Software.For details, visit http://www.atlab.com.

Teranode and Bumgarner Lab at University of Washington Collaborate on Microarray Best Practices

Teranode Corporation, a leading innovator of experiment design automation (XDA) software for the Life Sciences
industry, has announced its collaboration with Bumgarner Lab and the Center for Expression Arrays at the University of Washington's Microbiology Department. The goal of the collaboration is to develop and publish XDA methodologies for streamlining microarray experiments. TERANODE XDA will be used by personnel as a laboratory information management and pathway analytics system in its microarray facility. The goal is to improve communication and coordination with outside collaborators and streamline projects undertaken by the facility. In the Center for Expression Arrays, personnel working as a team are processing and analyzing samples for as many as 20 to 30 collaborators at any given time. Each collaborator provides samples to the lab for processing , analysis, and reporting. Completing a project is always challenged by ensuring coordination of quality checks and samples between team members and outside collaborators. A constant stream of new samples, in addition to changing chips and analysis, puts a strain on the lab's ability to efficiently track experiments, perform analysis, and exchange data with collaborators. The Bumgarner Lab which runs the Center for Expression Arrays and Teranode will collaborate to implement Teranode XDA as an automation and analytics platform within the facility. For details, visit http://www.teranode.com/modeldriven.

ClinPhone Launches New Web-based Clinical Trial Management System

ClinPhone, a world leader in clinical technology sdolutions, has announced the launch of its new globally scalable web-based Clinical Trial Management System (CTMS). Developed in response to customer and market demand, TrialWorks Web 2005 will be deployed by pharmaceutical, biotech and CRO organizations for the day-to-day tracking and reporting of regulatory and clinical information. TrialWorks Web 2005 will be offered alongside the established client-server version, TrialWorks by ClinPhone v4.5, enabling ClinPhone to offer its customers a full spectrum of clinical trial management solutions. TrialWorks Web 2005 offers all of the functions of ClinPhone's existing CTMS, including thorough site/investigator management functionality, a powerful investigator payments component and hundreds of standard reports. The web-based system also offers a number of additional features, including Microsoft Office compatibility and a robust and intuitive ad hoc reporting tool for creating a variety of user-configured reports. Other significant features in the new web-based CTMS database include integration with a wide range of commercial Interactive Voice Response (IVR), Electronic Data Capture (EDC) and data management systems.For details, visit http:/www.clinphone.com.

Agilent Introduces Lab Resource Management Service for Large Labs

Agilent Technologies Inc. has introduced its Laboratory Resource Management (LRM) service for life science and pharmaceutical laboratories. Through this service, Agilent places its engineers on-site to regularly handle maintenance, repair, regulatory compliance, workflow consulting and reporting services for all chromatography and other instrumentation, regardless of equipment vendor. For large laboratories, this service promises to increase efficiency and productivity, simplify administration and provide operational consistency, while reducing total service costs. Agilent's LRM service program reduces instrument downtime by a factor of four compared with standard support agreements with individual vendors. Expert, on-site engineers can respond more promptly and are familiar with a customer's laboratory. The LRM service also minimizes the time customer employees spend handling instrument failures by reducing time spent troubleshooting, reporting failures, escorting and familiarizing engineers, and re-qualifying failed modules. In one typical account, this time dropped from 8.5 employee hours per failure to only 75 minutes. For details, visit http://www.agilent.com.

National Instruments Unveils LabVIEW Graphical Programming for Embedded Design

Scientists and engineers now can take advantage of the high-level graphical programming paradigm of National Instruments LabVIEW software to save significant time prototyping and deploying embedded applications to 32-bit microprocessors. The new NI LabVIEW Embedded Development Module extends LabVIEW to any 32-bit embedded processor, providing scientists and engineers with a graphical approach to algorithm design, simulation, prototyping and deployment of custom designs for embedded systems. "NI LabVIEW has empowered thousands of scientists and engineers in the test and control industries to harness challenging programming concepts, such as parallelism and multithreaded development, through an intuitive graphical dataflow paradigm,” said Dr. James Truchard, NI cofounder, president and CEO. “The evolution of LabVIEW beyond the PC will open embedded system design to an entirely new class of developer – a more mainstream population of scientists and engineers.” With the LabVIEW Embedded Development Module, scientists and engineers can design algorithms and program their applications using an intuitive graphical dataflow language. In addition, LabVIEW graphical front panel controls and indicators help engineers interactively experiment and debug their embedded code much more quickly than conventional approaches. For details, visit http://www.ni.com.

CSols Announces New L4L Instrument Interface Product for the Pharmaceutical Marketplace

Leading laboratory systems integration software provider CSols has announced the release of their latest revolutionary product L4L Pharma which they say will revolutionize the way that laboratories manage, integrate and transform laboratory data for pharmaceutical manufacturing and research and development. L4L Pharma is the first product of its kind designed exclusively for the needs of the pharmaceutical industry. It combines the robustness and compliance required for this market with the flexibility necessary to handle all types of instrument integration with LIMS. It is the only solution which utilizes Oracle as an engine to ensure compliance, security and scalability while providing plug and play capability to interface all the leading instrumentation with all the leading LIMS. Third party reporting tools can be used with the Oracle database to provide even more powerful transformation capabilities. For details, visit http://www.csols.com.

CSols Announces the Launch of IntegraLab

Market leading laboratory systems integration software provider CSols, in conjunction with development partner DomSoft, has announced the launch of IntegraLab which will simplify the integration of laboratory software solutions regardless of whether they are LIMS, Instrument software, Electronic Notebooks or Calibration databases. "Most laboratories are not as efficient and automated as they could be.” says CSols President Kyle McDuffie. ‘Fewer than 25% of laboratories take full advantage of their automation potential because it is just too complicated to integrate all the software solutions in the laboratory. We believe that our new IntegraLab solution will drastically reduce the end-user and IT effort to make the data do the work.” IntegraLab is targeted initially for the needs of the Research laboratory. It combines the flexibility of a workflow engine with the robustness of plug and play integration to facilitate integration of multiple laboratory software solutions. User-defined Templates define a structured workflow allowing laboratory procedures to be followed through in their entirety. Security and Audit Trails are combined with Integrated Access Control to ensure that data manipulations via the workflow process are restricted to users who are authorized to perform that step in the workflow. For details, visit http://www.csols.com.

Bio-Rad's KnowItAll System 5.0 Offers World’s First Multi-Technique Spectral Searching System

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has announced the release of KnowItAll Informatics System Version 5.0 featuring advanced multi-technique database searching. This powerful search technology enables users to define searches in multiple spectral techniques concurrently in a single software platform—even across multiple databases—and view consolidated results. The KnowItAll spectral searching system gives scientists who analyze samples using multiple spectral techniques the ability to simultaneously and seamlessly combine all spectral information available to yield a single search result. While traditional spectral search and analysis software programs only focus on one spectral technique at a time, the KnowItAll system searches and consolidates data from all spectral techniques at the same time, providing dramatically improved search accuracy and efficiency. Searches may include substructures, properties, and a variety of experimental spectra, including NMR, MS, IR, and Raman. The system also provides additional visualization and data mining tools that simplify results, along with special search tools to weight the importance of each data input and define how it factors into the final result. For details, visit http://www.bio-rad.com.

Bio-Rad Releases Eight New ADME/Tox Databases

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has announced the release of eight new databases that contain measured ADME/Tox properties including Bioavailability, Blood-Brain Barrier Permeability, Carcinogenic Potency, Toxicity, Carcinogenicity of Water Disinfection By-Products, Estrogen Receptor Binding, Mutagenicity, and Water Solubility for a broad range of chemical compounds. These new ADME/Tox data collections are useful to those involved in drug discovery, allowing them to benchmark the results of their own experiments against this data, validate the accuracy of predictive ADME/Tox models, or build new models using this experimental data as a training set for their models. For details, visit http://www.bio-rad.com.

Bio-Rad Extends Powered by KnowItAll Software and Database Outsourcing Services Program

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. has announced that it has extended its Powered by KnowItAll Program to the Analytical Chemistry/Spectroscopy market segment. Now with Bio-Rad's award-winning KnowItAll software and database product line, analytical instrument companies can deliver fully customized applications based on a combination of unique software offerings. The KnowItAll Informatics System is a fully flexible and customizable informatics environment with software and database tools that encompass the areas of spectroscopy, chemistry, and in silico ADME/Tox profiling. Because of its unique architecture, the KnowItAll system may be compiled in multiple combinations of software applications and/or database formulations, enabling KnowItAll partners to create and tailor their own toolsets accordingly. This custom application development approach provides several options to Powered by KnowItAll partners, including selection from over 20 standard applications (including structure drawing, reporting, analysis, data management, and data mining), instrumentation integration, and custom interface options. For details, visit http://www.bio-rad.com.

Dionex Releases Version 6.7 of Chromeleon Chromatography Management Software

At Pittcon 2005, Dionex announced Release 6.7 of their Chromeleon Chromatography Management System software, scheduled to ship at the end of April 2005. The new software automates new Dionex instruments, expands third-party control, extends simulation capabilities, and introduces 3-D amperometry. Chromeleon 6.7 automates the new Dionex ICS-3000 Ion Chromatography system and the new UltiMate 3000 Nano and Capillary LC system also debuting at Pittcon. The new instruments expand analytical capabilities, increase productivity, and set new standards for performance. Optional dual-system configurations share a single autosampler, doubling throughput without doubling costs. Release 6.7 also fully controls over 250 instruments from more than 25 manufacturers. New GC support covers various single, dual, and headspace models from Agilent, Thermo, Perkin-Elmer, and Shimadzu. New LC support covers the Agilent 1100 RI detector, Perkin-Elmer 200 series, Gilson Nebula modules, and Shimadzu preparative pump. Graphical control program editing and enhanced diagnostics are available for Agilent LCs and GCs. Chromeleon’s client/server architecture allows smooth scale-up from a single workstation to a networked enterprise implementation, with no software change and no retraining. The software's integrated database quickly locates samples matching any combination of sequence, sample, or result criteria, and its Excel-compatible spreadsheet provides easy, flexible, and powerful ways to report results for individual or multiple samples. Comprehensive validation, security, electronic signature, and audit trail capabilities facilitate compliance with GLP, CGMP, and 21 CFR Part 11. For details, visit http://www.dionex.com.

ACD States Laboratory Data Management Bottleneck Overcome with ACD/Automation Server

Advanced Chemistry Development, Inc. (ACD/Labs) has unveiled the latest release of ACD/Automation Server, an enterprise utility that meets the processing and analysis challenges faced by today's laboratory via automated data collection, processing, and database population. Because the laboratory bottleneck has shifted from data collection activities to data processing and analysis, the ACD/Automation Server helps reduce this bottleneck by combining a modular architecture with the flexibility of an XML-based configuration utility to programmatically expose the powerful features of ACD/SpecManager tools. These tools include analytical data processing, chromatographic and spectral databasing, and intelligent integration of chemical structure and analytical data. ACD/Automation Server also supports analytical data from a wide selection of instrumentation vendors. For details, visit http://www.acdlabs.com.

ACD/Labs Announces the Interlinkage of Chromatographic and Spectral Data within the ACD/SpecManager Portfolio of Products

Advanced Chemistry Development, Inc. (ACD/Labs)has introduced the latest developments for their ChemAnalytics portfolio of products, which now enable the binding together of chromatographic and different spectral data types within the processing and database storage environments. At the center of the collaborative analytical elucidation process is a need to bring together the many different spectroscopic processes that are used to elucidate chemical entities. Thus, ACD/Labs has created a flexible hierarchy system for spectral and chromatographic data that makes it possible, for example, to link together a series of NMR, Mass, and IR spectra, with individual chromatographic peaks from a reference chromatographic trace. This significant enhancement provides a consolidated way to store work-in-progress analytical data and compound reference information. This latest development to the ACD/SpecManager portfolio of products encompasses the 1D NMR Manager, 2D NMR Manager, Chrom Manager, MS Manager, UV-IR Manager, and Curve Manager Modules. ACD/SpecManager is an overall spectroscopic processing and data management system that consolidates structure, spectra, and other analytical data from any technique into a single platform for unified analysis and dissemination throughout the enterprise. In addition to server- or browser-based access through Oracle-based client-server architecture, ACD/Labs also incorporates into their complete analytical data management solution the ACD/Workflow Manager system to manage samples, structures, and analytical data, and the ACD/Automation Server utility for automated data collection, processing, and database population. For details, visit http://www.acdlabs.com.

M. D. Anderson Cancer Center Streamlines Paperwork with EELIMS from Stone Bond Technologies

Stone Bond Technologies, LP has announced that The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center has purchased its EE–LIMS product to upgrade the existing paper-based workflow at one of their shared resource facilities to a fully automated Laboratory Request Management System. The Microarray Core Facility, a shared resource center at M. D. Anderson, performs a wide variety of DNA and mRNA analyses for researchers working on problems ranging from identifying genetic variations associated with disease to discovering new drug targets. When performing these analyses, EE–LIMS will give Microarray Core Facility researchers, administrators and lab technicians the ability to query, analyze and manage technical data from sample submission to delivery of analysis results. At the same time, EE-LIMS will handle billing and other administrative data flow as part of a single, integrated system. For details, visit http://www.stonebond.com.

EISC Awarded Patent for its SDMS for Laboratory Data Quality and Production

EISC has announced that its Scientific Data Management System (SDMS) for organic and inorganic laboratory automation of data quality and production, the Analytical Review and Reporting Suite (R&R Suite), has been awarded a patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Additional patents are pending along with international patents in seven countries. US Patent No. 6,895,364 B2 issued to Paul Banfer and EISC, is entitled, “Materials Analytical Review & Reporting Software” and provides for automatic analytical review, reports and electronic data deliverables (EDDs). The R&R Suite, requires no change to a lab’s current analytical process, yet it directly and significantly increases lab production while ensuring data quality and integrity by automating all analytical review, reporting and EDDs (including SEDD). The scalable Suite includes systems for Metals, General Chemistry, Volatiles, Semi-Volatiles/HPLC, and Pesticides/PCBs. The system’s plug-n-play internet centric technology seamlessly integrate with any instrumentation and lab IT, work with or without a LIMS, and streamline and automate the quality assurance/quality control process providing the lab with one complete, consistent solution from analysis through to the client deliverable.. For details, visit http://www.EISC.net.

Autoscribe Announces Outstanding First Quarter Results

Autoscribe has announced outstanding business results for the first quarter of the new financial year based on incoming order volume. Overall the business has grown by 32.6% compared to the first quarter of 2004/5. The total Autoscribe LIMS business has grown by 65.5% with seven new LIMS projects booked in this time period. New business in the USA has grown by 59% and by 182% worldwide. This success follows two strategic decisions by the company. One was to invest heavily in a 2 to 3 year development programme to re-write Matrix LIMS for the .NET environment. One key aspect of this development was that existing users would be provided with a technical and commercial upgrade path to what is a brand new system. The upgrade is provided at no cost to current users with a support agreement. The other was to invest in a marketing programme to make sure that customers were made aware of the excellence of Matrix LIMS, the uniqueness of the market leading configuration tools, the reputation of the product and Autoscribe for providing unmatched product stability and support services. This programme included a complete re-work of the Autoscribe web site. Overall this has resulted in many more enquiries and customer contacts together with involvement in more of the major LIMS projects around the world.For details, visit http://www.autoscribe.co.uk.

ATL Announces ISO 9001:2000 Certification for the Fourth Consecutive Year

Accelerated Technology Laboratories, Inc. (ATL), a leading supplier of LIMS has announced its fourth year of successful Registration to ISO 9001:2000. ATL was originally certified in April 2001. ATL, Inc.’s system was audited and registered by SGS International Certification Services, Inc. SGS Group is one of the largest verification, testing and certification organizations in the world, whose brand is recognized as the global benchmark for the highest standards of expertise, quality and integrity. ATL, Inc. is a privately owned company that develops Windows-based LIMS with Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle data management solutions. ATL offers the Sample Master LIMS product line in government, environmental, industrial hygiene, water and wastewater, R&D, manufacturing and public health laboratories. For details, visit http://www.atlab.com.

ABB Expert Optimizer Project Increases Clinker Production by 8 % at Holcim Italia’s Cement Plant

ABB, a world leader in power and automation technology, has announced that it has successfully installed and commissioned an Expert Optimizer system for Holcim in Italy. To leverage its assets and increasing profitability, in March 2004 the Expert Optimizer system was implemented on the Kiln and Cooler at the Ternate plant in northern Italy. The nominal capacity of the kiln line is 2600 t/d, and the thermal energy consumption is around 3'300 kJ/kg clinker. The kiln system is fired with multiple fuels. Petcoke is the main fuel; while heavy fuel oil can also be used. There are also 4 alternative fuels. The project goals were to achieve more consistent product quality, higher production rates and higher consumption of alternative fuels. The main difficulties to overcome were the variability of feed chemistry, the high usage of alternative fuels and plant process stability. Expert Optimizer was tuned to maximize production. The project commenced with a thorough assessment of the process by the project team from Holcim and ABB, to ensure that the process and project objectives were fully understood and that any underlying assumptions were substantiated. A full review of the available sensor information and user requirements was completed before installation. Expert Optimizer was then commissioned in two phases during which close collaboration between the ABB project engineer and the Holcim Process engineer ensured the objectives were achieved. The measurements taken from an average of 4 months before and 6 months with Expert Optimizer and during a kiln optimization program show the following benefits: the clinker output increased by 8%, C3S standard deviation reduced by 40% and the freelime standard deviation reduced by 25%. For details, visit http://www.abb.com/cement.

FDA Launches Program for Quality Assessment System

The FDA has initiated a pilot program that will provide the Office of New Drug Chemistry (ONDC) with information to aid in the development of guidance for industry on the agency's new pharmaceutical quality assessment system. The FDA is seeking 12 original new drug applications (NDAs) that will be ready for submission by Dec. 31, 2006. The agency will work with each participant on an individual basis, with review of the application being the primary goal. The information gathered during the program, which will focus only on the CMC portion of the NDA, will be used to develop a draft guidance on the FDA's quality assessment system.
The new assessment system will focus on critical pharmaceutical quality attributes -related to chemistry, formulation, manufacturing process design and product performance — and their relevance to safety and effectiveness. The FDA laid out the groundwork for the new assessment system last fall with the release of a white paper, titled "ONDC's New Risk-Based Pharmaceutical Assessment System." The paper was developed as part of the agency's pharmaceutical current good manufacturing practices initiative. The deadline to submit requests to participate in the program is Oct. 31. For more information, visit http://www.fda.gov/OHRMS/DOCKETS/98fr/05n-0262-n000001.pdf.

Crawford Confirmed as FDA Commissioner

The U.S. Senate has voted overwhelmingly to confirm Lester Crawford as commissioner of the FDA. Crawford's nomination was confirmed in a 78-16 vote that was scheduled shortly after three senators agreed to lift their holds on Crawford's nomination. Sens. Hillary Rodham-Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) agreed late July 14 to remove their hold after receiving assurances from the HHS that the FDA would soon make a decision on the over-the-counter status of emergency contraceptive Plan B (levonorgestrel). In April, Clinton and Murray announced they intended to hold up Crawford's nomination until the FDA reached a decision on Plan B, for which manufacturer Barr Laboratories has been seeking OTC status for more than two years. Clinton and Murray agreed to lift their hold following a commitment from HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt, who stated in a letter to Senate Education, Health, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Michael Enzi (R-Wyo.) that the FDA would make a ruling on Plan B by Sept. 1. The HELP committee endorsed Crawford's nomination. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) also agreed to lift his hold on Crawford's nomination, after receiving assurances from the FDA that it would implement a new condom labeling rule. Coburn previously objected to the fact that the agency had not changed the labeling on condom packages to reflect potential failure risks, as required by a 2000 law. Crawford's Senate confirmation came amid renewed scrutiny of his tenure as acting commissioner from several prominent lawmakers. Among the lawmakers leading the charge was Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who last night voted against Crawford's confirmation. "My oversight of the FDA leads me to the conclusion that there are cultural and systemic problems at the FDA," Grassley said. "Unfortunately, Dr. Crawford has long been part of that same culture and system. The evidence is overwhelming that the FDA must change to better protect the American people. Dr. Crawford does not appear willing to be the man to change the FDA." Among Grassley's latest concerns is Crawford's handling of travel expenses and employee bonuses during his tenure as acting commissioner. In a letter to Crawford, Grassley asked why bonuses to top FDA officials tripled during Crawford's tenure. According to Grassley, yearly bonuses to top FDA officials increased from roughly $160,000 during Mark McClellan's tenure as commissioner to more than $500,000 in the past year under Crawford. Most of the bonuses went to employees in the Senior Executive Service (SES), a select group of officials with lifetime jobs and higher pay than civil service workers, Grassley states in the letter. For details, visit http://www.fda.gov.

FDA Releases Guidance on Safety Testing for Drug Metabolites

Manufacturers should attempt to identify differences in drug metabolism between animals used in nonclinical safety assessments and humans as early as possible during the drug development process to ensure timely assessment of potential safety issues, the FDA recommends in a draft guidance. The draft guidance, titled "Safety Testing of Drug Metabolites," offers methods to identify quantitative and qualitative differences in metabolic profiles across animal species to assess safety in humans during risk assessment. As a general guideline, the FDA says metabolites in human plasma that account for more than 10 percent of drug-related material should be considered during the safety assessment. The agency cautions that some metabolites present at less than 10 percent should also be tested, depending on the situation. The draft guidance includes a decision-tree flow chart to help manufacturers determine at which point in the development process the studies should be conducted. To view the guidance, go to http://www.fda.gov/OHRMS/DOCKETS/98fr/2005d-0203-gdl0001.pdf.

What's New - July to August 2005 The following is a wrap-up of news of interest during the months of July to August 2005

What's New - July to August 2005
The following is a wrap-up of news of interest during the months of July to August 2005