IDBS launch latest electronic lab notebook

The E-WorkBook 7.0 suite is a family of electronic lab notebook (ELN) products designed to replace or be used in parallel with the traditional paper laboratory notebooks.

The software suite gives researchers the ability to collect and structure data together in a searchable electronic format as well as allowing them to port in electronic information from various instruments.

All the information is stored centrally on a host server, with users working remotely using client software loaded onto a desktop PC, laptop or notepad allowing the easy porting of data from the lab to the office in a secure and efficient manner.

"One of the things that has got people excited about electronic lab notebooks is that as well as having documents describing experimental protocols you can import spectra and images from high content screening experiments, for example," said Glyn Williams, vice president of marketing .

This allows more efficient knowledge sharing throughout an organisation and as the new software includes a web services layer the ELN can be integrated with other corporate databases and other systems so people "don't end up hopping from one system to another" .

"The improvements offered by the new version include pdf document creation and storage, increased statistical capabilities, increased graphing support and simplified report generation," said Williams.

The software also enables effective protection of intellectual property by providing multiple electronic sign-off levels as well as leaving a full audit trail in a 21 CFR part 11 compliant environment.

The 21CFR part 11 compliance is crucial in submissions to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and this has been verified by an independent company.

IDBS is part of the SAFE association which provides a legal framework and technical infrastructure to ensure that members comply with relevant legislation.

The new suite comprises the E-WorkBook as well as the BioBook and ChemBook extensions.

The ChemBook extension adds tool to the software suite that support the everyday research of medicinal and synthetic chemists including reaction drawing and stoichiometry calculations.

The extension also allows compound registration and the ability to link to and search any chemistry data source.

The advances to the statistical and graphing capabilities will be particularly useful when combined with the BioBook which has been designed to simplify the management and analysis of complex research data generated within late stage discovery, pharmacology and early preclinical research.

In 2006, Pfizer announced that it was deploying BioBook across its entire research biology program including discovery biology, worldwide safety sciences, pharmacokinetics dynamics and metabolism, and secondary and safety pharmacology.