July / August 2010 Contents

Global Management

Forming and managing effective global research teams with members located in far-flung countries and different time zones is a major challenge for lab managers at multinational companies and at companies outsourcing lab work overseas.

John K. Borchardt

Perspective On: A Biotech Lab

Although Jonathan Sweedler is the director of the University of Illinios at Urbana-Champaign's Roy J. Carver Biotechnology Center, he insists that the managment of the center, its 36 full-time staff, plus the students who work part time in the various facilities, is a shared task.

Sara Goudarzi

Competing Priorities

Doing a good job of establishing project priorities and docusing on the highest-priority projects can enable laboratories to compete effectively with labs having much larger staff and budgets.

John K. Borchardt, Ph.D.

Into the Field

Increasingly, analysts perform routine analysis "where the action is" — locations of environmental interest, manufacturing suites, crime scenes, loading docks, and packaging facilities — through transportable instruments.

Angelo DePalma, Ph. D.

Specialty Gases

In many applications, continuous emission monitoring is required to collect and analyze at least one sample every fifteen minutes from industrial processes. High-purity gases are vital for the purpose, as are custom standards for head space analysis of water and soil samples.

Michael Hayes

Crime Lab Design

Design requirements for forensic laboratories are unique. While forensic labs share certain features with academic, research, and other laboratories, the composition of these elements and the addition of other characteristics make these facilities an uncommon challenge.

Michael Mount, AIA, and Adam Denmark, AIA

Leaning Toward Lean?

Although the basic concepts and techniques of Lean are straightforward, adoping them to a particular lab situation and integrating them into a defined process that uses resources well is quite a challenge.

Tom Reynolds

Building for People

Indoor environmental quality considerations for laboratory construction.

Vince McLeod

Financial Intelligence

For a laboratory to be able to survive in a difficult economic environment, it is crucial that the scientific and finincial sides of the business be in sync.

Richard Daub

Valuing Specialization

Biotech organizations that hire more project managers and fewer programmers, invest in strategic sourcing personalled and adopt risk-based approaches to vender selection may be better able to adapt to the ever-changing biotech landscape.

Christopher Lotito

How to Overcome Challenges with Microscopy

Dr. Rebecca Williams, director of the Microscopy and Imaging Facility at Cornell University, talks about her role in overseeing the imaging laboratory while pursing independent research in the field.

Tanuja Koppal, Ph.D.

LAB MANAGER ACADEMY

Tips for Setting and Achieving Goals for Yourself and Your Lab

Karla Brandau

SCIENCE MATTERS

Staffing Companies: Perception versus Reality

Alan Edwards

SURVEY SAYS

What Goes into Buying a Titrator

Product Focus

Microplate Readers

Microscopes

Low-Temperature Freezers

Clean Room Furnishings

Evolution Of

Water Purification Systems

Technology News

The latest equipment, instrument and system introductions to the laboratory market.

Application Notes

Summer Supplement

How It Works

High-Speed Microplate Moving

Verifying Liquid Handling Instrumentation Performance

Fluorescence Mix-And-Read Assays For Antibody Discovery

Moisture And Ash Analysis