Bio Bureau improves communication between labs with eLabJournal

However, the cherry on the top for our researchers is the Sample Documentation function section of eLabJournal which is extremely useful to us because we work in labs that are scattered across the city and have different working hours. With the production of up to 100 samples of various kinds each week, the function helps us to keep track of the details of every sample and to easily find out which one was the parent.

Milica Markovic, Biotechnology Engineer

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Bio Bureau

Bio Bureau is a biotechnology company focused on biodiversity identification as well as the development of genetically modified organisms which may be used for the control of invasive species, biomining, and for the production of compounds of significant commercial value. The company was created in 2009 by a university professor, and it cooperates with the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and other startup companies. Since its founding, the company has brought together scientists from different disciplines, including molecular biology, biotechnology engineering, bioinformatics, biology, and organic chemistry. The wide variety of backgrounds encourages the development of creative new approaches to basic science research and the application of the resulting solutions in the industry. The Bio Bureau has worked on contracts in the energy, petroleum, and food industries.

Goal

To develop genetically modified organisms to control invasive species and turn their research into marketable products.

Challenge

To improve coordination and transparency between a growing team of researchers across multiple lab locations

The number of people involved in our research was growing, and they were not all located in the same lab. Bio Bureau needed a solution that would help make the log of data available to all team members. In doing so, they needed to design templates for their lab books based on the need of specific projects while following a common framework across all projects.

Solution

All project information is in a single, common system with access from all labs, local and remote

The eLabJournal system provided:

• Faster, more straightforward entry of sample data
• Better organization of sample storage
• Definitive identification of the most important data, including recognition of the data that was not stored in the past
• All data on all projects are stored in a single, safe, secure repository
• Fast, easy checking of the data associated with any sample
• Clear definition of the data required for each experiment type, and incorporation of that data into the standard templates, thus guiding new projects and new users
• The procedures for each experiment type help us to estimate and order the consumables required over the next several months

Result

Structured experiments, improved protocols, and better sample workflow

eLabNext enabled, in just three months, the organization of the entire documentation process for four different projects. Experiments are clearly separated, yet easy to cross-reference and faster to fill out, compared to our previous organization.

The procedure section helped organise protocols and find weak spots in them, even for someone reading them for the first time. However, the cherry on the top is the sample documentation function section of eLabJournal which is extremely useful since their team works in labs that are scattered across the city and have different working hours. With the production of up to 100 samples of various kinds each week, the Bio Bureau team is able to keep track of details for every sample and make it easy to find the parent of every sample.