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quote:LIMS question for the guys on here. We use a custom build and it infuriates my lab that we cannot insert images. Is this just a crap build or just something we've been told to live with? Is this an in-house built LIMS? Where do you want to insert the images? Into CoA reports, samples, other data items? Do you want them to actively display or just be attached to a sample as a file? Our LIMS gives you the option to attach any kind of files to samples/projects/etc and I'm sure I could configure it to display an image anywhere. Our interface is all java server pages generated from the app server and you can make completely custom pages.
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Jan 29, 2012 22:00
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I haven't ever experienced an easy to use, non clunky lims. If it's custom built, start bugging your software developer if you want a feature added. It seems like between ipads and all the things people can do with HTML5 that someone would be able to put out a decent lims. Appachai fucked around with this message at 22:28 on Jan 29, 2012 |
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Jan 29, 2012 22:20
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Hey hey! Our system is great! Are you talking strictly about navigating and operating the system or the whole building all the master data part? I do think our new system is pretty easy to use but LIMS are definitely clunky. I think mostly because of the wide array of data they have to be able to record and then chain of custody/e-signatures. For the scientist I think our system would be fairly painless though.
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Jan 29, 2012 23:13
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I have no idea what your system is. From navigating data to setting up how processes are supposed to flow I have never really seen a good LIMS. This is coming from a big pharma background where they had essentially unlimited funds. I work in structural biology, where the data we produce is really quite standardized, yet we are all still working from spreadsheets on our network and a sharepoint site. It's silly and inefficient, but it works. There was recently a thread on ccp4bb (a crystallography software mailing list) where someone asked if anyone had ever experienced a good LIMS and the answer was a resounding "No". The exceptions were people that belonged to a company that sells a LIMS. All I want is a way to click on a project, see all the constructs we made for that project, see the gels/chromatograms for particular preps of that protein, and then crystallization results. It really doesn't seem that difficult, but of course I'm not a software developer so I don't really have any idea.
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Jan 29, 2012 23:44
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I sell LIMS which I think I made evident with my tone hopefully if you didn't remember my previous posts. I'll have to look into what you're asking for, but it should be fairly easy in our LIMS. I'm not sure about the gels because I'm not super familiar with our reagents (which is where I think that would fall under) module. I think my company is one of the top three LIMS companies so we're expensive. What LIMS have you used? We recently partnered with Waters and directly interface with their Empower CDS. Lyon fucked around with this message at 00:55 on Jan 30, 2012 |
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Jan 30, 2012 00:50
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I've worked with PiMS, Sesame, and at Novartis I was using a totally custom built lims that was related to our corporate oracle database. Now I work at a CRO doing crystallography. We have project leads, who send tasks to different core facilities such as Mol Bio(making expression constructs, e.coli and yeast fermentation, cell culture (for BV and mammalian expression), protein purification, and finally crystallization core. The tasks are sent to the cores through a sharepoint site, and then people email us the results, which we print out and paste into our paper notebook. As you can imagine, just keeping track of everything is difficult. I heard some rumblings that we may be shopping for a lims in the next year, but I doubt we're going to spend more than 20-30K. Does your LIMS have a way of importing directly from GE/agilent HPLC/FPLCs? We use those instruments for the vast majority of information we produce.
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Jan 30, 2012 01:50
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Yeah we should be able to either through our native instrument integration or if the instrument is too complex via an additional piece of software which I think we license based on # of instruments. Basically we write drivers for the different instruments for how to parse the output and where to find it. Then our instrument server grabs it and then the instrument server and our LIMS interface. Our stuff is probably a bit too pricey based on your expected budget but we do have a cloud offering coming out in the near future which should have a reduced cost.
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Jan 30, 2012 02:30
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Please hurry. The excel file we use for keeping track of stuff takes longer and longer to open every day
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Jan 30, 2012 03:55
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Sadly we're probably talking about another year before a true SaaS offering will be available. We have a hosted option but that just cuts your capital expenditures for the hardware but leaves the licensing the same. Our licenses are... a bit pricey, even for named licenses (as opposed to concurrent). There will be a SaaS offering but we're just released a new product version so all of our resources are focused on that right now. It sounds like this could be right up a lot of smaller non-regulated labs alleys. Another major issue comes into how much configuration goes into a system. Most labs try to configure and custom code our solution to fit their exact needs perfectly. This can cost as much or more than software. But enough LIMS chat, everyone should tell more crazy lab stories. Edit: Quick thought, if anyone is interested just out of personal curiosity to see my company's software I could probably arrange it. I promise I won't try to sell anyone anything! Lyon fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Jan 31, 2012 |
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Jan 30, 2012 22:09
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-80 starts temperature alarming non-stop around noon so we keep an eye on it since it's full of current research samples. It goes from -80 to -62, which cues us to start collecting the biggest styrofoam shippers we can and filling them with dry ice. It's 3:30pm now, and it's teetering back and forth between -62 and -61. We've asked around the entire building and no one has enough space for all our crap. It starts recovering slowly around 5pm, having clawed its way to -63. I end up staying and keeping an eye on it until 8pm to make sure it didn't flip its poo poo again. The next morning the tech is over and can't find anything wrong. Now everyone is paranoid about it. I think the same ghost that haunts our house vacuum system and always causes it to freak out when I want to use the vacuum manifold has realized the freezer is an equally good target.
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Jan 31, 2012 05:11
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Is it normal to feel pressure to work 8-6? I feel really guilty leaving at 5 when everyone else is still working in lab.
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Feb 1, 2012 17:05
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stab stabby posted:Is it normal to feel pressure to work 8-6? I feel really guilty leaving at 5 when everyone else is still working in lab. That's the way it was at my last job where I was a salaried research assistant in an academic lab. People acted weird if I left before 6:00 and the pressure to be there for 10 hours a day ended up causing me a lot of stress. It felt like a daily competition to prove who was the most dedicated and it sucked. I ended up quitting and getting a job in a lab that is much more laid back. What type of lab do you work in and what is your position?
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Feb 1, 2012 18:40
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who cares posted:That's the way it was at my last job where I was a salaried research assistant in an academic lab. People acted weird if I left before 6:00 and the pressure to be there for 10 hours a day ended up causing me a lot of stress. It felt like a daily competition to prove who was the most dedicated and it sucked. I ended up quitting and getting a job in a lab that is much more laid back. I'm a research assistant in an industry lab. Sometimes, if it's only 4 but I have nothing else useful to do, I start looking for stuff to do just so I can look busy. 
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Feb 1, 2012 19:28
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So for a quick update on the lab, apparently the DHS is investigating them, and the lab is losing customers left and right. In other news, everyone's favorite lab is having some issues... I can't loving wait for the lawsuits that will come out of this.
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Feb 1, 2012 19:38
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Solkanar512 posted:So for a quick update on the lab, apparently the DHS is investigating them, and the lab is losing customers left and right. Holy poo poo. How would you claim monetary damages? The amount of money that is now required to raise your unwanted child? Millions!
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Feb 1, 2012 20:31
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Vladimir Putin posted:Holy poo poo. How would you claim monetary damages? The amount of money that is now required to raise your unwanted child? Millions! I'm betting they're going to offer to pay for the abortions and then say, "what more do you want?"
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Feb 1, 2012 21:29
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"No birth control pill is 100% effective, and our packaging suggested multiple forms of protection. We can use that line to drag this out in court until your child is seven, or here's $20K to shut up and go away."
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Feb 2, 2012 15:22
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Any of the people looking for jobs in the US: have any experience in field service/chromatography products? And I have to laugh at that pfizer gently caress up.. c'mon guys.
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Feb 2, 2012 15:50
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stab stabby posted:I'm a research assistant in an industry lab. Sometimes, if it's only 4 but I have nothing else useful to do, I start looking for stuff to do just so I can look busy. The key is to find out if it really matters or not to your management. Many of the chemists and engineers in my old department would come in at 7-8 and stay till 6 or 7. I could never do that for any length of time, so I personally worked from 8-4, got my poo poo done on time, and never had any issues with my boss.
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Feb 4, 2012 03:06
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Sundae posted:"No birth control pill is 100% effective, and our packaging suggested multiple forms of protection. We can use that line to drag this out in court until your child is seven, or here's $20K to shut up and go away." While this is what they'll say, can't anyone with a decent lawyer point out that even the most rudimentary QMS would have caught something as blatant as "adding too many sugar pills" or "reordering sugar pills"? If I'm not mistaken they're a different color (or could be made that way trivially) and could be quickly checked by an optical scanner, right? This of course would be in addition to standard lot sampling procedures. Additionally, wasn't the manufacturing of these pills outsourced to a third party and thus the testing would happen both there and with Pfizer? Or is this just some elaborate fantasy in my head and none of this is actually required? I mean poo poo, this sort of thing is required in food processing and even my lab followed these sorts of things...
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Feb 4, 2012 06:25
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Solkanar512 posted:While this is what they'll say, can't anyone with a decent lawyer point out that even the most rudimentary QMS would have caught something as blatant as "adding too many sugar pills" or "reordering sugar pills"? If I'm not mistaken they're a different color (or could be made that way trivially) and could be quickly checked by an optical scanner, right? This of course would be in addition to standard lot sampling procedures. There is enough area for doubt, that while you might be able to win given enough time Pfizers play will be to drag things out in court so you will settle or just give up. I can see them bringing up things like proving you were taking the pills correctly to try make it impossible to prove culpability. I'm sure a class action law suit is already in the works, but then any one individual will probably not get a huge settlement out of it. And I think Pfizer may actually be able to argue that each case is too different to form a class in the first place - if Merck was able to do it for Vioxx, I don't see why Pfizer wouldn't try for this.
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Feb 4, 2012 17:37
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seacat posted:
This entire post and especially this part is spot on. I had the exact same experience as you, organic synth undergrad experience and everything. Shortly after graduating (spring 08) I got hired on doing field support and the combination of undergrad organic chemistry and computer skills has served me really well. I also completely lucked out to find a good company that managed to keep growing even at the worst point in the recession. I've been able to walk in to every kind of lab.. all of the big pharma places like PFE as well as literally run down houses converted into contract testing labs. I can't tell you how many times I've been working in a crappy lab much like the ones I interviewed at while looking for a job and you can just tell everyone is bored and miserable.. the desperation in their eyes as they ask if my company is hiring or if I know of other labs that are hiring. To reiterate seacat's awesome post the best advice for anyone just starting out is a) if you're still in school you need to be doing undergraduate research it is hands down the best thing you can do for your career and imo at least in my case despite my project being crappy it was very fulfilling and taught me more about work than any class ever could. b) Do something that makes you happy. You're going to have to spend thousands of hours doing it, you're probably not going to start out doing what you ultimately want to do, and frankly if you're a workaholic type you'll be waking up with the first thought in your brain something stressful about work. That will drive you nuts if its not something you can enjoy. ascii genitals fucked around with this message at 22:39 on Feb 4, 2012 |
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Feb 4, 2012 22:37
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Hi lab goons. I work at an environmental chemistry lab in the northwest. Mostly shake and bake testing of soil/water samples for crap wages. I'm currently in dioxins lab but also work in general organic extractions (pcbs, pesticides, etc) and have worked in conventional wet chemistry (cyanide, phenols, anions, etc). I'm so beyond burned out because I've been doing this for seven years. The business end of it takes a lot of the "wow" out of it, too. I'm looking for a change. I have an AS in Biotech and the stability to secure a private student loan. Should I go back to school and get a BS? Find another type of lab to work for (preferably one that pays more but at this point I could break even if it meant getting out of here)? It's been so long since I've been out there I'm not sure how the job prospects look. I know when I graduated in 2004, the market was saturated with fresh Biotech people and most places were looking for experience. Not that interested in going into medical but I know that's where most of the job openings are. Any advice or ideas? Also if anyone wants to ask what it's like in an environmental lab, I'm more than happy to field questions (unless it falls into my NDR).
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Feb 5, 2012 00:13
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Oh man, I wish I'd known this thread existed a few months ago.  I only found it after following a link in the US Republican Primary thread So I'm in the UK and I've got a PhD interview with the prospective PI on Tuesday. According to this guy, the "proper" interview is later in Feb, but he's already asked for me to be shortlisted for that and wants to meet in the mean-time. Does anyone have any advice on preparing for this kind of thing? I've read all of the papers listed on his faculty profile page (getting a postdoc buddy from my MSc to send me those that were behind a paywall), and now I'm going through my MSc dissertation and lab-book refreshing myself on what I was up to. What are your thoughts on dress-code? I was thinking smart casual; a suit would be too much, right?
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Feb 5, 2012 01:07
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Wear a suit, you're interviewing to be a doctor for gently caress's sake
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Feb 5, 2012 01:28
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londerwost posted:Hi lab goons. My thoughts would be that while having a BS is an improvement (that's where I'm at), your seven years of experience says a great deal. I think your best bet is to hit up the resume dude in SA-Mart, and put yourself out there for the time being. I think then you'll get a good idea about whether or not you need the additional education. I'm a bit biased since this is my field, but have you ever considered branching out into Quality as well? Good luck man! If nothing else putting yourself out there will give you something to relieve the boredom. Also, stay the gently caress away from the food safety lab just north of Seattle. Seriously, don't do it.
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Feb 5, 2012 02:59
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Ghost of Babyhead posted:What are your thoughts on dress-code? I was thinking smart casual; a suit would be too much, right? "When in doubt, go all out." (It's a PhD interview, you dummy! Put on a goddamned suit!)
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Feb 5, 2012 04:44
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londerwost posted:Hi lab goons. No offense to you or anyone with an AS but I wouldn't even consider a candidate with one for a biopharma job unless you had phenomenal references from people I know. We get enough resumes with a BS that even a lot of those go straight into the trash. The job market in our field isn't too bad on a national scale but the Seattle area sucks right now.
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Feb 5, 2012 09:09
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suit and tie it is, then! 
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Feb 5, 2012 11:37
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iloverice posted:No offense to you or anyone with an AS but I wouldn't even consider a candidate with one for a biopharma job unless you had phenomenal references from people I know. We get enough resumes with a BS that even a lot of those go straight into the trash. The job market in our field isn't too bad on a national scale but the Seattle area sucks right now. Wait, so you would take a newly minted BS over an AS who has proven themselves reliable and competent for seven years? Understand that I say this as someone with a BS, but what are you gaining with the two extra years of undergrad that outweighs seven years of direct experience in doing exactly what you are hiring then to do? I mean heck, if that's just the way things are, then that's just the way things are, but it seems really strange to ignore direct experience in this situation.
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Feb 5, 2012 11:42
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I know this is the laboratory chat but for folks looking for work and are interested in the instrumentation service side of things it looks like my company is hiring field service engineers in different locations around the US. We hire folks with technical backgrounds as well as chemistry backgrounds for these positions. Unfortunately I can't really help beyond pointing you in the right direction but if you're interested in applying hit me up via PM or post your e-mail and I'll send you to my employers site.
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Feb 5, 2012 13:51
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TouchyMcFeely posted:I know this is the laboratory chat but for folks looking for work and are interested in the instrumentation service side of things it looks like my company is hiring field service engineers in different locations around the US. Haha I wonder if we work for the same company.
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Feb 5, 2012 16:00
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ascii genitals posted:Haha I wonder if we work for the same company. If it rhymes with DerkinSelmer (yeah, I got nothin'), you might be right!
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Feb 5, 2012 17:04
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TouchyMcFeely posted:If it rhymes with DerkinSelmer (yeah, I got nothin'), you might be right! Ah nope, I guess things are looking up everywhere though  . Had a phone meeting friday and apparently we're hiring 20-30 people across the US this year. I work for a small company that does a lot of field service work for Smagilent.
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Feb 5, 2012 17:13
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Solkanar512 posted:Wait, so you would take a newly minted BS over an AS who has proven themselves reliable and competent for seven years? Understand that I say this as someone with a BS, but what are you gaining with the two extra years of undergrad that outweighs seven years of direct experience in doing exactly what you are hiring then to do? I guess it was unfair of me to post a blanket statement like that. While experience matters, it would have to be direct experience (same equipment, same types of studies) to matter much. I've found that an AS doesn't give you enough time to learn enough to understand what you are doing to the degree our lab requires. Almost everyone that I've worked with that has an AS can perform the job just fine but can't extrapolate and troubleshoot results without help from a PI. There are people who are exceptions but I know my PI wouldn't really even consider an AS without heavy recommendations.
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Feb 5, 2012 17:59
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ascii genitals posted:Ah nope, I guess things are looking up everywhere though I wonder if it's because we're so busy trying to tell everyone how well we can work on each others equipment. Then again I think Agilent could buy us multiple times over so I wonder if we even show up on the radar. Good to hear things are looking up in multiple places though.
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Feb 5, 2012 18:16
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TouchyMcFeely posted:I wonder if it's because we're so busy trying to tell everyone how well we can work on each others equipment. Haha yeah I hate the 3rd party stuff so much. I only have to work on my own stuff but I have a coworker who spends most of her time on Shimadzu instruments and she hates it. I was working along side a Waters guy recently and he was lamenting it. Whoever came up with 'all inclusive' lab service contracts is a loving moron. The customer pays essentially full price for a service contract and expects the level of response and knowledge they would get from the instrument manufacturer. When the run of the mill service is done they probably do a decent job, but the problem is repairs. There ARE small outfits that can do this, but they don't have nearly as many clients and probably don't promise the world. Stuff gets billed to us as a non-contract repair, so rather than being able to order all the parts that could be needed you get some bullshit estimation of how much it should cost and how long it should take. Plus since every FSE is busy as hell a non-contract repair obviously isn't going to jump to the front of the line in front of contract repairs. Everything is always a crisis when an instrument goes down, at least 90% of the time the company only has one of that instrument or it is critical to the operation of the whole facility something equally short sighted. No one wants to wait, so now everyone involved is unhappy because some idiot tried to save $10,000. ascii genitals fucked around with this message at 18:55 on Feb 5, 2012 |
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Feb 5, 2012 18:50
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ascii genitals posted:Haha yeah I hate the 3rd party stuff so much. I only have to work on my own stuff but I have a coworker who spends most of her time on Shimadzu instruments and she hates it. I was working along side a Waters guy recently and he was lamenting it. Yeesh, sounds like your system is worse than ours. Thankfully I don't work on 3rd party stuff either but I know that our 3rd party price is absurdly high. If we have to come in and perform the work under another company's contract it's the billable rate +50% and parts are customer cost +25%. Good to run into another CSE though and glad to hear this kind of silly behavior isn't in just one company.
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Feb 5, 2012 19:21
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I hope I'm not derailing the thread too much but TouchyMcFeely/ascii genitals I would love to know more about your jobs. I've been highly interested in being a field service rep since holding a job at my university as a low-level instrumentation repair guy (basically helping students run the instruments and repairing minor problems like clogs/leaks in HPLCs, replacing capillaries for CEs, changing out gases/lamps/etc, finding workarounds to ever-present software quirks, simple stuff like that). I really loved that job but it paid diddly squat. Since moving on from that into industry I have been working almost exclusively with Waters HPLCs and a few different brands of IRs. I would be really unhappy working in a chemistry lab that did not involve instrumentation. I do love chemistry and science in general, but I really love equipment (also a car repair nut) and it is incredibly satisfying to me to diagnose and repair instrumental problems. Normally I would jump all over your companies' postings but I started a new job fairly recently (9 months ago) with a much higher level of responsibility (and stress) which I hate to leave so early, since they pay pretty well and I am learning an incredible lot. And we're in the middle of a FDA response I'm a huge part of, so leaving right now would pretty much nuke all contacts/future networking opporotunities I could have at that company. Also due to some poor choices during school and the economy postgraduation my credit still sucks and will for a year or two and that is a big thing due to expense accounts.. luckily my driving record is perfect and I have nothing else bad in my background check. How satisfied are you guys with your jobs? How happy are you salary-wise? Is there more potential for advancement being a FSE as opposed to just being a lab chemist? How is your work-life balance? Is it exciting to get to travel, or tedious? Any information you want to share would be greatly appreciated. 
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Feb 5, 2012 19:43
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Haha derkinselmer and smagilent
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Feb 5, 2012 20:20
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