Short Course Description

Intermediate Excel and VBA in the Laboratory

This course builds upon Getting Started with Excel and VBA in the Laboratory by exploring more advanced features of Excel 2007. Topics covered include importing data from files and relational databases, data processing, creation of custom user interfaces, and communication with external programs.

Who Should Attend

This short course is for bench scientists, laboratory managers, and students interested in automating experimental data collection and analysis using Microsoft Excel 2007 and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). The course material is targeted at intermediate Excel users having some prior experience with VBA and Excel. Attendees are expected to be familiar with all material covered in the course Getting Started with Excel and VBA in the Laboratory.

How You'll Benefit From This Course

• You will learn how to import data from a variety of data sources.
• You will expand your knowledge of the VBA programming language and the Excel 2007 Object Model.
• You will learn how to build and use custom forms and shapes, and modify Excel's new Fluent Ribbon.
• You will explore advanced techniques for interacting with charts.
• You will learn about ActiveX and how to use it to interact with external programs.

Course Topics

• Importing data from text files and databases
• Automatic periodic task execution
• ActiveX with Excel and VBA
• Programmatic manipulation of the Excel Object Model
• Programmatic data processing and analysis
• Using charts as advanced user interfaces
• Custom user interfaces with forms, shapes and the Fluent Ribbon

Course Fee: US $600/$700*

Course Format: Computer

Class Limit: 40

Instructors:

Mark F. Russo, Ph.D. Haddonfield, New Jersey USA

Mark Russo received his Ph.D. in 1989 and began his profession in the field of Laboratory Automation. He has integrated many diverse robotic systems for applications in high-throughput screening, combinatorial synthesis, product formulation and X-ray crystallography. He has also authored and configured several laboratory information management systems in areas such as protein expression and combinatorial synthesis. Currently, Mark works in the pharmaceutical industry where he leads a group that introduces automation and technology into laboratories throughout Drug Discovery.

Mark has served the Association for Laboratory Automation for many years as a member of the LabAutomation conference Scientific Committee, an instructor for two ALA short courses, and the Executive Editor of the Journal of the Association for Laboratory Automation (JALA). Mark has published extensively on topics related to laboratory automation. He has also co-authored a book on laboratory automation programming entitled Automating Science and Engineering Laboratories with Visual Basic, published by John Wiley and Sons (ISBN 0-471-25493-2).

Steve Carfello Integrated Systems & Services Group®

Steve Carafello is a partner at Integrated Systems & Services Group®, an IT business solutions provider servicing the manufacturing and distribution sector. During his 20 years with ISSG, Steve has been responsible for application design & development, systems integration, project management, and the supervision of large software implementations in the areas of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), eCommerce, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Business Process Enhancement (BPE) for many well-known companies. Steve is an experienced programmer in Visual Basic, HTML, XML, SQL, Flash, Progress 4GL, Unix Shell Script, and he is the author of iDecisions™, a Business Intelligence tool written entirely in Microsoft Excel®.

* higher fee applies to those who are not ALA members