Laboratory Automation
Laboratory automation is a multi-disciplinary strategy to research, develop, optimize and capitalize on technologies in the laboratory that enable new and improved processes. Laboratory automation professionals are academic, commercial and government researchers, scientists and engineers who conduct research and develop new technologies to increase productivity, elevate experimental data quality, reduce lab process cycle times, or enable experimentation that otherwise would be impossible.
The most widely known application of automation technology is laboratory robotics. More generally, the field of automation comprises many different automated laboratory instruments, devices, software algorithms, and methodologies used to enable, expedite and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of scientific research in laboratories.
Automation can be implemented throughout a lab. Starting in the mid-1990s, several commercial laboratory companies and a handful of hospital laboratories took the plunge and installed total laboratory automation (TLA) systems in their high volume core laboratories.
Today, hundreds of clinical pathology laboratories in the United States have turned to laboratory automation as one approach to improving quality, reducing turnaround times for lab test results, to save money, and to improve staff productivity. Interest among clinical laboratories in automation is at an all-time high.
The cost of such TLA systems, however, often leads labs to opt instead for modular automation, which generally consists of consolidated analyzers, integrated analyzers, modular workcells, and pre- and post-analytical automation.
Another automation option is an island of automation, in which a single robotic system or other automatically operating machine functions independently of any other machine or process. Islands of automation offer the lab more flexibility in designing the workflow, and can also perform labor-intensive or hazardous tasks.
The application of technology in today’s laboratories is required to achieve timely progress and remain competitive. Laboratories devoted to activities such as high-throughput screening, combinatorial chemistry, automated clinical and analytical testing, diagnostics, large scale biorepositories, and many others would not exist without advancements in laboratory automation.
Many clinical laboratories are implementing automation solutions as a substitute for manual labor, due to the largest workforce shortage in the history of the medical laboratory industry. Appropriate use of integrated workstations, automated analyzers, and TLA systems all make it possible to re-assign the lab’s most skilled staff members to responsibilities that contribute much higher value.
The development of laboratory automation systems (LAS) would not be possible without sophisticated laboratory information systems (LIS).
Tripath Imaging Ready To Roil Pap Test Market
CEO SUMMARY: Single-handedly, Cytyc Corporation has built the market for thin-layer Pap smear testing. Executives at TriPath Imaging are now ready to challenge Cytyc’s dominance by offering what they believe is a different value proposition to labs: an automated liquid preparation syste…
It’s Modular Automation At Beaumont Hospital Lab
CEO SUMMARY: Many hospital labs are evaluating laboratory automation options. The fastest-growing problem which needs an answer is the shortage of trained medical technologists and technicians. At William Beaumont Hospital’s new laboratory, selective workstation and modular automation s…
New Automation Tools Ready for Clinical Labs
CEO SUMMARY: Evidence grows that workstation automation and modular automation can be cost-effective solutions in the clinical laboratory. But the newest generation of automation technology presents lab administrators with a new challenge. Financial analysis and workplace reengineering ar…
LAB-InterLink Acquires Labotix Automation, Inc.
CEO SUMMARY: Here’s an interesting combination of expertise. LAB-InterLink has one of most sophisticated process control software products for running automated laboratory systems. Its acquisition of Labotix, resulting in the largest installed base of lab automation hardware in the Unit…
Wedding Between AutoCyte and NeoPath Will Spawn A Single Prep/Screen System
CEO SUMMARY: Various technologies that automate cytology and Pap smear screening entered the clinical marketplace during the last four years. Because managed healthcare views new technology with a more skeptical eye than fee-for-service healthcare, THE DARK REPORT has provided extensive a…
Total Laboratory Automation: It’s “ DOA” In Today’s Market
CEO SUMMARY: Since 1994, thoughtful lab executives have wrestled with the concept of total automation for their laboratory. Despite concerted marketing efforts by some of the world’s most successful diagnostics manufacturers, only a handful of total laboratory automation (TLA) sites are…
Kaiser, SBCL To Automate Pap Smear Screening
CEO SUMMARY: Two of the country’s largest Pap screen testing organizations are preparing to introduce automated primary screening into their laboratories. NeoPath’s con- tracts with SmithKline Beecham Clinical Laboratories and Kaiser Permanente mark the beginning of a new market cycle…
Kaiser Plans Widespread Use For Pap Technology
WITHIN THE HMO INDUSTRY, Kaiser Permanente is highly respected for its thorough research into the clinical efficacy and economic cost of new healthcare technologies. That is the reason why Kaiser’s decision to adopt NeoPath, Inc.’s automated cytology technology…
SBCL Makes System-Wide Commitment To AutoPap
SOMEONE ALWAYS HAS TO BE FIRST to adopt new technology. In the case of automated cytology, it will be SmithKline Beecham Clinical Laboratories (SBCL). SBCL and NeoPath, Inc. announced a four-year national agreement between the two companies on October 9 which will e…
AutoCyte Moves One Step Closer To FDA Approval
CEO SUMMARY: Until now, AutoCyte has kept a relatively quiet presence in the automated cytology marketplace. That may soon change as the FDA takes action on the company’s PREP™ and SCREEN™ products. AutoCyte expects these products will boost productivity and quality in cytology labs…
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXXI, No. 5 – April 8, 2024
The fragmentation of consumer markets is reflected in clinical lab services, and The Dark Report examines this trend and how it will impact labs in the coming years. Also, The Dark Report notes that the FDA has issued a controversial memo to reclassify many high-risk IVD assays.
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