February 2010 Contents

Moving Forward

Our second annual confidence survey reveals a growing optimism about the future and indicates that companies and organizations now have a better understanding of where they are and what they need to accomplish to begin moving forward again. Whether the outlook is good or bad, the relative economic stability is now allowing business forecasts to be made and plans put into motion.

Richard Daub

Perspective On: A Mobile Training Lab

Launched in 2006 in part to solidify North Carolina’s standing as a national biotech hub, the BioNetwork mobile laboratory is outfitted with life science workstations, specialized equipment, and experienced faculty. Now in its third year of operations, the mobile lab is helping residents polish their laboratory skills so that the state’s life science industry continues to thrive.

Jen Sprance

Communicating a Vision

Taking the time to initiate a small goal like creating a vision is the first step toward creating a better team, a stronger workforce, and entrepreneurial thinkers. This crucial step initiates the beginning of a transformation within yourself and a larger effect on the group you lead.

Kerri Harris

Refereeing Research Papers

Your research staff can play a role in the peer process by participating as referees for manuscripts. What are the advantages and disadvantages of doing so?

John K. Borchardt

Sharing the Workload

Cross-training your staff is essential in ensuring that your lab’s workload be carried out without any hiccups and that samples move smoothly through your workflow. It also gives analysts a chance to master characterization techniques that may complement those they currently use.

Vishnupriya Bhakthavatsalam

Improving Sample Throughput

CompuChem, a division of Liberty Analytical based in Cary, North Carolina, recently improved sample delivery, measurement protocol and rinse-out times by coupling a rapid sampling system with an ICP-MS system, reducing the time required to analyze a typical CLP sample by 80 percent.

Kenneth Grzybowski

Selling Ideas to Upper Management

Effectively selling your ideas and those of your staff members to upper management is often what separates good lab managers from great ones. Failure to accomplish this is the main reason excellent ideas fall by the wayside. To sell ideas, you need to tap into the same creativity you and your staff used to conceive them.

John K. Borchardt

Managing Through Challenging Times

Laboratories face an uncertain future of more work, fewer resources, more bureaucracy, less discretionary time, more data reporting requirements and fewer experienced people with the knowledge to handle these issues. What this means for the lab manager is that “business as usual” will simply not be an option.

Shanya Kane

Setting Up a High-Throughput Screening Lab

Dr. Hakim Djaballah, director of the High-Throughput Screening (HTS) Core Facility at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, talks about his experiences setting up a screening lab in an academic environment.

Tanuja Koppal

Science Matters

Want Your Workforce to Thrive? Innovate

Rich Pennock

Product Focus

Filters

Glove Boxes

Titrators

TOC Analyzers

Lab Safety

Separation Anxiety

Vince McLeod

Evolution Of

Gas Chromatography Systems

Pittcon Technology Guide

Pittcon Technology Guide

How It Works

Production of 3D Cell Cultures

Managing R & D Data

HPLC Core-Shell Particle Technologies