The digital lab manager: Automating research support.

Laboratory management automation is essential for achieving interoperability in the domain of experimental research and accelerating scientific discovery. The integration of resources and the sharing of knowledge across organisations enable scientific discoveries to be accelerated by increasing the productivity of laboratories, optimising funding efficiency, and addressing emerging global challenges. This paper presents a novel framework for digitalising and automating the administration of research laboratories through The World Avatar, an all-encompassing dynamic knowledge graph. This Digital Laboratory Framework serves as a flexible tool, enabling users to efficiently leverage data from diverse systems and formats without being confined to a specific software or protocol. Establishing dedicated ontologies and agents and combining them with technologies such as QR codes, RFID tags, and mobile apps, enabled us to develop modular applications that tackle some key challenges related to lab management. Here, we showcase an automated tracking and intervention system for explosive chemicals as well as an easy-to-use mobile application for asset management and information retrieval. Implementing these, we have achieved semantic linking of BIM and BMS data with laboratory inventory and chemical knowledge. Our approach can capture the crucial data points and reduce inventory processing time. All data provenance is recorded following the FAIR principles, ensuring its accessibility and interoperability.

Best Practices for Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory Morbidity and Mortality Conferences.

Cardiac catheterization laboratory (CCL) morbidity and mortality conferences (MMCs) are a critical component of CCL quality improvement programs and are important for the education of cardiology trainees and the lifelong learning of CCL physicians and team members. Despite their fundamental role in the functioning of the CCL, no consensus exists on how CCL MMCs should identify and select cases for review, how they should be conducted, and how results should be used to improve CCL quality. In addition, medicolegal ramifications of CCL MMCs are not well understood. This document from the American College of Cardiology's Interventional Section attempts to clarify current issues and options in the conduct of CCL MMCs and to recommend best practices for their conduct.

Running a research group in the next generation: combining sustainable and reproducible research with values-driven leadership.

In the summer of 2021, we held a community workshop at the International Congress of Arabidopsis Research (ICAR) aimed at early career researchers and focused on values-based lab leadership. Here, we elaborate on ideas emerging from the workshop that we hope will allow current and future group leaders to reflect on and adjust to the rapidly evolving nature of the academic scientific enterprise.

Experience and thinking of principal investigator system management in laboratories of medical schools / 中华医学科研管理杂志

Objective:Principal Investigator (PI) system is the most common model of scientific research organization and management in colleges and universities. PI is the head of the laboratory or the leader of the research team who has the authority to manage the supporting team, funds, and space (laboratory). We aim to explore the advantages and problems of the PI system implementation and deeply understand how to effectively and scientifically manage the project management, personnel coordination, and fund use of the entire team to promote the scientific research output of the PI platform of medical schools in China.Methods:By concluding and analyzing the management experience and main bottlenecks of PI laboratories at home and abroad, and summarizing our center's experience in assisting the management of PI laboratories in life sciences, we explored a new model of PI system development suitable for China.Results:Under PI system, the person in charge systematically learns to operate his or her laboratory scientifically. Perfection and improvement of the methodologies of team formation, laboratory public affairs management, and laboratory fund management can effectively avoid existing problems and follow the intrinsic laws of scientific research development and truth-seeking, promote the development in discipline development, interdisciplinary cooperation, personnel training, and study style construction.Conclusions:As the leader and manager of the scientific research team, PI is critical to the development of scientific research in universities in China. The incubation of a new scientific management model for the PI team is conducive to promoting the scientific and technological innovation of the PI team and the long-term development of scientific research institutions.

A System to Easily Manage Metadata in Biomedical Research Labs Based on Open-source Software.

In most biomedical labs, researchers gather metadata (i.e., all details about the experimental data) in paper notebooks, spreadsheets, or, sometimes, electronic notebooks. When data analyses occur, the related details usually go into other notebooks or spreadsheets, and more metadata are available. The whole thing rapidly becomes very complex and disjointed, and keeping track of all these things can be daunting. Organizing all the relevant data and related metadata for analysis, publication, sharing, or deposit into archives can be time-consuming, difficult, and prone to errors. By having metadata in a centralized system that contains all details from the start, the process is greatly simplified. While lab management software is available, it can be costly and inflexible. The system described here is based on a popular, freely available, and open-source wiki platform. It provides a simple but powerful way for biomedical research labs to set up a metadata management system linking the whole research process. The system enhances efficiency, transparency, reliability, and rigor, which are key factors to improving reproducibility. The flexibility afforded by the system simplifies implementation of specialized lab requirements and future needs. The protocol presented here describes how to create the system from scratch, how to use it for gathering basic metadata, and provides a fully functional version for perusal by the reader. Graphical abstract: Lab Metadata Management System.

Building Leadership Skills in Research Groups.

The academic research enterprise currently suffers from a culture of "academic bullying" and an unprecedented worldwide mental health crisis among trainees and faculty. These struggles, in part, result from a lack of leadership skills. Mental health, well-being, intrinsic motivation, and engagement at work are linked to three fundamental needs of self-determination: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. A great leader will first ensure they are meeting their own needs and, secondly, will support their team members in increasing their needs without decreasing autonomy. This article is a practical "how-to" guide for researchers at every stage of the academic career path. It distinguishes management from leadership and addresses three key leadership competencies related to the self-determination needs: 1. Increasing one's personal power as a foundation for autonomy, 2. building a culture of belonging and psychological safety to nurture relatedness, and 3. supporting and encouraging the need for competence by enabling people to self-evaluate performance and direct professional growth. © 2022 Wiley Periodicals LLC.

Anatomy of a Cyberattack: Part 1: Managing an Anatomic Pathology Laboratory During 25 Days of Downtime.

OBJECTIVES: Our institution was affected by a multi-institution, systemwide cyberattack that led to a complete shutdown of major patient care, operational, and communication systems. The attack affected our electronic health record (EHR) system, including all department-specific modules, the laboratory information system (LIS), pharmacy, scheduling, billing and coding, imaging software, internet access, and payroll. Downtime for the EHR lasted 25 days, while other systems were nonfunctional for more than 40 days, causing disruptions to patient care and significantly affecting our laboratories. As more institutions transition to network EHR systems, laboratories are increasingly vulnerable to cyberattack. This article focuses on the approaches we developed in the anatomic pathology (AP) laboratory to continue operations, consequences of the prolonged downtime, and strategies for the future. METHODS: Our AP laboratory developed manual processes for surgical and cytopathology processing, redeployed staff, and used resources within the department and of nearby facilities to regain and maintain operations. RESULTS: During the downtime, our AP laboratory processed 1,362 surgical pathology and consult cases as well as 299 cytology specimens and outsourced 1,308 surgical pathology and 1,250 cytology cases. CONCLUSIONS: Our laboratory successfully transitioned to downtime processes during a 25-day complete network outage. The crisis allowed for innovative approaches in managing resources.

Anatomy of a Cyberattack: Part 3: Coordination in Crisis, Development of an Incident Command Team, and Resident Education During Downtime.

OBJECTIVES: Our institution was subject to a multi-institutional, systemwide cyberattack that led to a complete shutdown of multiple major patient care, operational, and communication systems for more than 25 days. The electronic health record computer system was taken offline, as was the hospital email and authentication systems, internet access, and the laboratory information system. The impact on the hospital and patient care was substantial, and our laboratories were crippled. METHODS: Our laboratory endured challenges in communication because of the loss of connectivity and difficulties in laboratory management, and we recognized a need to restructure leadership to maintain operations during the crisis. As an academic institution, residents and trainees were also significantly affected by the disaster. RESULTS: We developed an incident command team (ICT), alternative methods of communication, and innovative management strategies to remain operational. Trainees were incorporated into the disaster-relief efforts, with negative impacts on resident education. CONCLUSIONS: This paper focuses on the challenges in communication and lab management as well as the need for an alternative leadership structure during the crisis. We also highlight the unique experience of our trainees during this prolonged downtime, underscoring the importance of incorporating resident trainees into the daily ICT's administrative activities as an invaluable lab management experience.

Anatomy of a Cyberattack: Part 2: Managing a Clinical Pathology Laboratory During 25 Days of Downtime.

OBJECTIVES: Our academic health care institution was the victim of a cyberattack that led to a complete shutdown of major patient care, operational, and communication systems, including our electronic health record (EHR), laboratory information system, pharmacy, scheduling, billing and coding, imaging software, internet, hospital shared computer drives, payroll, and digital communications. The EHR remained down for 25 days, significantly affecting our clinical pathology (CP) laboratory operations. METHODS: During the downtime, our CP laboratory incorporated manual interventions for patient specimen testing, recruited additional staff for reporting results, and employed multiple communication modalities to support patient care. The crisis required a swift response, employing innovative approaches to mitigate patient harm; regular, multidisciplinary engagement; and consistent, broad-reaching communications. CP leadership worked with hospital administration, staff, and our referral clients to provide the timely laboratory results needed for acute patient care. RESULTS: During this downtime, the laboratory lacked accurate information about the number of patient samples diverted to other laboratories, the number of specimens processed, and the number of test results reported. CONCLUSIONS: This paper focuses on the approaches the CP division took to develop and maintain downtime operations. Laboratories should consider these strategies in preparation for a prolonged downtime.

Making an IMPACT on career development for early- and mid-career faculty.

Nuclear receptors are critically important in normal and disease physiology. Recent advances have created opportunities to expand our success in nuclear receptor (NR) basic and translational research, but this field lacks a platform to lay the collaborative groundwork for aspiring and upcoming leaders in the field. Nuclear Receptor IMPACT (Interdisciplinary Meeting for Progress And Collaboration Together) is a new collaborative group designed specifically for early- and mid-career faculty who study nuclear receptors in their many forms. A unique goal of NR IMPACT is to also directly address career challenges for early- and mid-career faculty. NR IMPACT held an inaugural conference in September 2020 and developed a roadmap identifying five major structural and science policy challenges facing early- and mid-career faculty. NR IMPACT identified potential best practices, resources needed, and key action items to address these issues. NR IMPACT is a first-of-its-kind cohort dedicated to building a foundation for the scientific and professional growth of investigators studying nuclear receptors, and supporting new collaborations that will advance new paradigms in NR biology. Our unique focus on career development will enhance the success of current faculty and remove hurdles for new faculty, creating a robust pipeline of investigators with exciting new ideas to advance NR biology. The growth of NR IMPACT will build a strong peer-mentoring cohort that can be a unique resource for researchers and a prototype peer group for other disciplines.

Utility and Practicality of Multi-level Sectioning and Upfront Unstained Slide Cutting in Head and Neck Biopsies: A Critical Analysis.

Upfront interval sectioning (cutting unstained slides between H&E levels) is used at our institution for biopsies at all sites except the gastrointestinal tract. Very limited data exists in the literature for the need for interval sectioning, and we are aware of no data at all for the head and neck. Biopsies from the larynx, oral cavity, pharynx, and sinonasal tract at our institution have had 5 levels cut. Levels 1, 3, and 5 or levels 2 and 5 had been stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E), depending on the subsite, and the remaining slides saved for possible later use. We retrospectively evaluated the use of unstained slides at these sites for clinical utility and efficiency by analyzing 3 years of cases from 1/1/2014 to 12/30/2016. A cutoff of 10% utilization was considered justification for continued upfront unstained slide cutting. We collected 706 larynx, 572 oral cavity, 184 pharynx, and 85 sinonasal tract biopsies over 3 years. The overall rate of unstained slide usage was 18.2%. Usage rates were significantly different by site: 7.8% (55/706) for larynx, 21.9% (125/572) for oral cavity, 30.6% (26/85) for sinonasal tract and 40.8% (75/184) for pharynx (p < 0.0001). The most common stain ordered in the pharynx was p16 immunohistochemistry (59.7%), but it was Grocott methenamine silver staining in the larynx (74.5%), oral cavity (70.4%), and sinonasal tract (35.1%). Usage of unstained slides was lowest for the larynx, and review of the biopsies with unstained slides utilized showed that the lesion was present on the 3rd H&E level in all cases. Removing this practice would have translated to saving 1,378 unstained slides. Upfront interval sectioning makes practical sense for biopsies from most sites in the head and neck, especially the pharynx, but our data suggests it can reasonably be forgone at least for biopsies of the larynx.

Undergraduate Biocuration: Developing Tomorrow's Researchers While Mining Today's Data.

Biocuration is a time-intensive process that involves extraction, transcription, and organization of biological or clinical data from disjointed data sets into a user-friendly database. Curated data is subsequently used primarily for text mining or informatics analysis (bioinformatics, neuroinformatics, health informatics, etc.) and secondarily as a researcher resource. Biocuration is traditionally considered a Ph.D. level task, but a massive shortage of curators to consolidate the ever-mounting biomedical "big data" opens the possibility of utilizing biocuration as a means to mine today's data while teaching students skill sets they can utilize in any career. By developing a biocuration assembly line of simplified and compartmentalized tasks, we have enabled biocuration to be effectively performed by a hierarchy of undergraduate students. We summarize the necessary physical resources, process for establishing a data path, biocuration workflow, and undergraduate hierarchy of curation, technical, information technology (IT), quality control and managerial positions. We detail the undergraduate application and training processes and give detailed job descriptions for each position on the assembly line. We present case studies of neuropathology curation performed entirely by undergraduates, namely the construction of experimental databases of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) transgenic mouse models and clinical data from ALS patient records. Our results reveal undergraduate biocuration is scalable for a group of 8-50+ with relatively minimal required resources. Moreover, with average accuracy rates greater than 98.8%, undergraduate biocurators are equivalently accurate to their professional counterparts. Initial training to be completely proficient at the entry-level takes about five weeks with a minimal student time commitment of four hours/week.

Study on and practice of construction and management of labs in higher vocational colleges / 中国医学装备

In order to meet the needs of training targets of medical higher occupational education.the construction and management of labs was explored.The lab construction developed rapidly,and lab management was further standardized to become more scientific.The whole benefits of labs were improved.These offered powerful support of quality to practical teaching and culture of skilled talents.

Experimental Teaching Reformation in Nuclear Medicine / 中华医学教育探索杂志

Considering the present condition of nuclear medicine experiment teaching and management model,this paper proposes some reform measures:reforming teaching model,adjusting teaching content,enhancing lab management.

Reinforcing communication between lab and clinic, promoting combination of lab and clinic / 中华检验医学杂志

It is important for improvement of the diagnosis and treatment level and development of both the lab and the clinic to reinforce the communication between them and promote their combination.The communication mainly comprises pre-analysis quality management, demonstration of new experimental projects, selection and combination of test items, accurate interpretation of the test results, rational use of test reports, laboratory methodology and quality guarantee.The reinforcement of communication can be accomplished by (1)Publicizing the importance of the communication.(2)Enriching the clinical knowledge for the laboratory staff.(3)Establishing the position of the clinical laboratory physician in the lab.(4)Attending the ward around and consultation and providing the counseling service.