The Laboratory Robotics Interest Group
April 1998 Meeting
Information Strategies
Date: Wednesday, April 22, 1998
Place: Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical Corporation,
1000 US Highway 202, Raritan, NJ 08869-1425, Raritan, NJ
Itinerary: Social Period with Refreshments and Poster Session, Lobby - 5:00
to 6:30 PM
Presentations
and Discussion, Auditorium - 6:30 to 9:15 PM
Pre-Registration: Requested, not required. Registering will allow us to more
accurately gauge seating requirements and refreshment needs. Indicate names of
attendees and company affiliation.
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (732)302-1038
Fax: (732)302-9080
Agenda: Data management and instrument control
are two components of Information Strategies which are critical to automation.
This meeting will address these issues in succinct presentations designed to
portray successful approaches. The Social Period will feature deli platters and
beverages courtesy of the sponsors. Members interested in presenting a poster during
the Social Period are encouraged to do so. Following the presentations there will be
a open forum panel discussion. Open career positions at your company may be
announced or posted. There is no fee to attend the meeting.
Presentation: A novel object-relational database for
chemical and biological data management
John Cargill
Associate Director, Information Systems
Ontogen Corporation
This talk describes recent unpublished work carried out at Ontogen Corporation and
Daylight Chemical Information Systems in the design and implementation of a novel
object-relational database for chemical and biological data management. Until now chemical
data has been stored in proprietary databases and biological data has been stored in
relational database management systems (RDBMS). Our work integrates a molecule data-type
into a relational database. This innovation unites chemical and biological data management
into a single universal database. In this universal database all chemical information
storage, searching and retrieval is handled using a standard Structured Query Language
(SQL-92) defined by the International Standards Organization (ISO). Performance
optimizations provide structure searching at speeds consistent with the fastest
proprietary databases. As a result of this work it is now possible to simplify and
standardize the management of pharmaceutical data.
Presentation: My Instrument: A Proposal for a
Standardized Software Interface to Analytical Instrumentation
James Duckworth
Vice President of Sales and Marketing
Galactic Industries Corp.
Good software is clearly an indispensable part of sophisticated analytical instruments.
However, due to a lack of standards in the industry, each manufacturer and instrument
supplier has developed their own, unique software packages to interface with today's
popular Windows-based computers. While this is fine when the instrument is used in the
capacity the manufacturer envisioned, it requires substantial amounts of new code
development to build customized and automated solutions around a given piece of
instrumentation. In addition, the ever evolving software technology base and lack of
standards forces the vendors to develop new software for nearly every new piece of
instrumentation. This talk will focus on a proposed standard programming interface for
instrumentation called "My Instrument". Using Microsoft's ActiveX component
design, this proposal will someday make connecting a piece of scientific instrumentation
to any software package as easy as using a printer is today.
Presentation: Dynamic Queries: an Interactive Approach to
Data Visualization in Drug Discovery
Christopher Ahlberg, PhD
CEO and Founder
Spotfire, Inc.
Interactive data visualization brings a solution to the data explosion caused by high
throughput instrumentation technologies, genomic databases, and lead repositories.
Spotfire, a visual environment for data exploration, is based on research at the
University of Maryland and Chalmers University, and provide large users groups in drug
discovery with capabilities for speeding up data analysis and avoiding gross early errors.
The presentation will include a live demonstration.
Presentation: Chemically-Intelligent Control for
Combinatorial Chemistry Instruments
David Chapman
President
Afferent Systems Inc.
Afferent Synthesis completely eliminates robot programming, by working from an abstract
description of the chemistry involved in making the library. The system is
device-independent; with a suitable driver, it can be used with any synthetic instrument.
Afferent Synthesis makes it possible to interleave the synthesis of several libraries, or
several batches of reaction vessels from a single large library, eliminating incubation
"dead time" and dramatically increasing throughput. It also provides robustness
by implementing synthesis error recovery and task restart, and a protocol optimization
module lets you systematically vary conditions to find best conditions for a reaction.
When coupled with Afferent Structure, the system automatically generates chemical product
structures, and tracks their locations.
Presentation: High Throughput Discovery: a chain is only
as strong as its weakest link
Dr. Keith Taylor
MDL Information Systems
When all molecules were handcrafted, biologists complained that their screening programs
needed more chemical entities. Chemists rose to the challenge: first there was
combinatorial synthesis and then came array synthesis. Now there were more molecules than
could be handled and high throughput screening evolved. Once again the assays could cope
with more molecules. And so it goes on.
The discovery process has changed and information technologies required to support the
high throughput discovery process have to change too.
Presentation: High Throughput Discovery Research: The
Real Issues
Ron Niesen
Vice President
EMAX Solution Partners
Many research organizations today are focused on increasing throughput of a discovery
research "factory" by eliminating bottlenecks. Multi-million dollar investments
are being made to put in the latest and fastest chemistry, robotics, and screening
automation. The end result, however, is not what you might expect. Often time it is not a
modern "factory" operation delivering maximum quality and output, but a
concatenation of expensive equipment exhibiting numerous process deficiencies. Rework,
redundancy, sequential work activities, ineffectual policies, and uncoordinated logistics
undermine obtaining the expected results. Fundamentally, the real issue is how well
engineered and executed is the overall process.
This presentation highlights the key challenges of assembling a modern discovery factory
independent of any one piece of equipment. Particular emphasis is given to strategies for
streamlining the discovery process, using available technology, by paying particular
attention to the logistics of how materials move around the system. There is significant
payoff in costs savings to this approach, but more importantly the result is higher
throughput and quality.
Presentation:
Michael Schwartz
Oxford Molecular Group
For more information contact:
Directions to Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical Corporation
From Newark Airport (40 miles/approx. 50 minutes)
Follow Route 78 West to Exit 29 (Route 287 South) ?Continue on Route 287 South to Exit
17 (Routes 202/206 South) ?Take Routes 202/206 South to the Somerville Interchange (the
old circle) ?See below * for directions to J&J facilities.
From JFK Airport (55 miles/approx. 80 minutes)
Follow general exit road (Route 678 North/Van Wyck Expressway) to Belt (Shore) Parkway
West ?Continue on Belt (Shore) Parkway West to Exit 3 (Verrazano-Narrows Bridge/Route
278 West) ?Cross Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and continue on Route 278 West/Staten Island
Expressway to Exit 9 (West Shore Expressway/Route 440 West) ?Stay on 440 West across the
Outerbridge Crossing into New Jersey ?Route 440 West becomes Route 287 North ?Travel
on Route 287 North to Exit 14 (Route 22 West) ?Take Route 22 West to Routes 202/206
South and to the Somerville Interchange (the old circle) ?See below * for directions to
J&J facilities.
From LaGuardia Airport (60 miles/approx. 85 minutes)
Follow signs to Grand Central Parkway West/New York City/Triborough Bridge (center lane)
?Cross Triborough Bridge, move to left lane, and take the Major Deegan Expressway/Route
87 North to George Washington Bridge/Route 95 West ?Cross George Washington Bridge and
follow Route 95 West to the New Jersey Turnpike South ?Continue on the New Jersey
Turnpike South to Exit 14 (Route 78 West) ?Travel on Route 78 West to Exit 29 (Route 287
South) ?Continue on Route 287 South to Exit 17 (Routes 202/206 South) ?Take Routes
202/206 South to the Somerville Interchange (the old circle) ?See below * for directions
to J&J facilities.
From New York City (50 miles/approx. 60 minutes)
Take the Lincoln Tunnel to the New Jersey Turnpike South to Exit 14 (Route 78 West) ?[Or, the Holland Tunnel to the New Jersey Turnpike Extension to Exit 14 (Route 78 West)]
?Follow Route 78 West to Exit 29 (Route 287 South) ?Continue on Route 287 South to
Exit 17 (Routes 202/206 South) ?Take Routes 202/206 South to the Somerville Interchange
(the old circle) ?See below * for directions to J&J facilities.
From Philadelphia (55 miles/approx. 90 minutes)
Take Route 95 North (which becomes 295 South) follow to Exit 69 (Route 206 North) ?Follow Route 206 North to the Somerville Interchange (the old circle) ?See below * for
directions to J&J facilities.
* To J&J facilities from the Somerville Interchange (the old circle)
Take Route 202 South 1/2 mile to the second traffic light ?J&J facilities are on the
right are, in order, Ortho Biotech; PRI; and Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical Corporation
?PRI’s Protein Development Center is located behind PRI on Ortho Drive, (the road
leading west into the campus), and the Child Development Center is situated farther west
on the same road ?The building also can be reached by following Route 28 West at the
Somerville Circle and turning left onto Ortho Drive.
For an interactive map: ![[ Yahoo! Maps ]](../../../images/yahootogo/buttons/yahoo_maps.gif)
Sponsors: Food and refreshments subsidized by Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, a division of
Amersham International plc. It develops specialised products and technologies designed to
investigate and help explain the fundamental processes of living cells in order to
understand disease and develop better ways of controlling and combatting it.
Group Update: February meeting winners:
Stephan Grant from Merck won the Devils tickets in the Nalge Nunc drawing. Joe
Guiles from Hoechst Marion Roussel won the rosewood pen set in the LRIG drawing. Another
business card drawing will be held at the April meeting. February meeting
losers: We severely underestimated the turnout. The food ran out and the
presentation room was overcrowded. We are requesting members to register for the
April meeting so this does not happen again. We will do our best to have sufficient
food and space in future meetings, with the patronage of our vendor members.
We are moving to an email-only meeting notification system. If you are receiving
this mailer in paper form, please send your email address to [email protected]
Vendors Night is Thursday, June 11th!
Check the web site for updates. We expect fifty vendors of automation equipment to
be exhibiting. Come out for an exciting evening of new equipment, new directions,
good food and companionship.
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