Short Course Description

Introduction to Laboratory Automation

This course presents a broad introduction to the field of industrial (i.e. non-clinical) laboratory automation. A general understanding of a laboratory environment is helpful.

Who Should Attend

Those with little or no experience with laboratory automation, seeking an introductory overview of the topic, including:

• Scientists
• Engineers
• Lab Managers
• Marketing or Sales Professionals
• Students

How You'll Benefit From This Course

• Understand industry drivers, costs and benefits of lab automation
• Learn methods of planning and executing successful automation projects
• Appreciate the strategy and technical features that make up a successful automated system
• Become aware of up and downstream impacts of lab automation
• Develop an understanding of the issues, strategies and tools for managing data from automated systems
• Learn about current and future lab automation technologies

Course Topics

• Succeeding With Laboratory Automation: Impacting Your Organization and Tactical Strategy
• Automated Systems: Architectures, Failures and Complexity; Metrics and monitoring; Interfaces; Automated ID and Vision Systems
• Programming Automation and Managing Data: Method Building; Graphical and Automatic Programming; Scheduling; Build vs. Buy Strategy; Data Analysis Systems; LIMS; Data Transfer and Archival
• Automation Technologies: Current Trends and Tools

Course Fee: US $500/$600*

Course Format: Lecture

Class Limit: 40

Instructor:

Steven D. Hamilton, Ph.D. Sanitas Consulting Boulder, Colorado USA

Steven Hamilton received a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from Purdue University in 1983. He served as the Team Leader of Fermentation Automation Development at Eli Lilly from 1983-1992, creating that companies first successful laboratory automation effort. Steve then joined Scitec Inc. as R&D Manager to lead the startup of the U.S. office. In 1994 he joined Amgen Inc. in Thousand Oaks, CA to create a laboratory automation effort, largely focused on the Human Genome effort. The following year he was appointed Director of Automation and Information Services at the Amgen Boulder, CO site, where he and his staff provided technology support in the creation of the companies' first small molecule program. Steve is currently with Sanitas Consulting, in Boulder, CO.

Steve was honored with the 1986 Pioneer In Laboratory Robotics Award, 1992 Scitec/TNO award and the 1999 ALA Achievement Award. He has served on the ALA Board of Directors, the Editorial Boards of Laboratory Robotics and Automation and the Journal of the Association of Laboratory Automation. Together with his colleagues he has annually taught short courses on laboratory automation since 1993.

Gary W. Kramer, Ph.D. National Institute of Standards and Technology Gaithersburg, Maryland USA

Gary W. Kramer received his Ph.D. from Purdue University in organic chemistry working with Professor H. C. Brown on the synthesis and reactions of allylic organoboranes. After serving as the head post-doc in the Brown organization, he joined Purdue's Chemistry Instrumentation Facility, where he designed analytical instruments and instrument interfaces and consulted on measurement problems. From 1984 until 1990, he was co-director of a project to automate the way organic synthesis development is carried out in the laboratory. In 1990, he joined the National Institute of Standards and Technology and was Project Manager of the Consortium on Automated Analytical Laboratory Systems (CAALS-a U.S. Industry/Government joint venture to foster the development of laboratory automation for analytical chemistry) from 1991 until 1996. In 1995, he was named Group Leader for the Chemical Sensing and Automation Technology Group in NIST's Analytical Chemistry Division.

James M. Gill II Bristol-Myers Squibb Company Wallingford, Connecticut

Jay Gill leads the Applied Biotechnologies Informatics group within the Discovery Informatics and Automation department at the Bristol-Myers Squibb Company's Pharmaceutical Research Institute. Jay has more that 25 years experience developing scientifically oriented hardware and software solutions primarily for early drug discovery. The Applied Technology Informatics group supports the software needs of scientists across early discovery from Array Synthesis to Lead Evaluation. This includes management of the array synthesis, analysis and purification, registration, compound inventory, HTS and Lead Evaluation applications and databases. Our major focus is to bring together the scientists, engineers and informatics personnel to provide solutions that are optimized in the scientific, hardware and software domains. Jay began his career as a neurobiologist studying signal transduction and coding in the central nervous system, focusing on the sense of taste.

* higher fee applies to those who are not ALA members