With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic forcing many life science facilities to remain closed or operate with fewer staff, being able to monitor vital equipment, critical systems, and controlled environments remotely is more important than ever. In this article, we highlight some essential laboratory assets that require monitoring and explain the benefits that real-time data acquisition brings to scientific research. We also introduce Lab Monitoring-as-a-Service and note how this can be used to keep laboratory operations running smoothly, especially now, when researchers need to maximize the value of any time spent in the lab.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led researchers to adopt new ways of working, with social distancing guidelines dictating that fewer people be in the lab at any one time. In turn, this has reduced capabilities to monitor vital equipment or respond to unexpected environmental changes, putting essential scientific research at risk. In normal times, robust procedures would be in place for measuring and recording key indicators of equipment and environmental performance. Now, the likelihood of these going overlooked is increased as personnel focus on keeping research programs afloat.
For research programs to run smoothly, regular checks should be carried out on equipment, the working environment, and the facility itself. In terms of equipment, these should include monitoring the temperature and door contacts of fridges and freezers, and the liquid nitrogen level and temperature of cryogenic storage devices. Additionally, incubators should be checked on a routine basis to ensure cells, bacteria, or other samples are cultivated at optimal temperature, CO2, O2, humidity, and pH.
Image. Installing door contacts on critical equipment, like incubators and cold storage units, provides an extra layer of protection and valuable insight into equipment health and usage.
Ambient conditions are a major contributing factor to intra-assay variability. They can also impact equipment performance, for example by adversely affecting gas concentrations within CO2 incubators or shortening the useful lifetime of ultra-low temperature freezers. For this reason, ambient temperature and relative humidity should be closely monitored (at multiple points in larger areas) such that a consistent working environment is maintained. Other environments that require monitoring include vivariums, where factors such as light intensity, differential pressure, and ammonia levels must be considered; and cleanrooms, which should be able to prove compliance with strict safety regulations.
Facility monitoring is equally important, especially with fewer personnel being around. Critical building parameters that should be checked include access cards for staff, video monitoring at building entrances, and door openings that can have a knock-on effect on heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) services. Another consideration is the backup power supply—a battery that is activated when the device it is connected to senses a loss of power from the primary source. All sensitive equipment should be connected to an uninterrupted power supply (UPS), and the UPS should be monitored to ensure its reliable function.
While it is common practice for researchers to run routine checks within the lab, having a dedicated monitoring system in place is a far more efficient approach. Historically, this has involved using data loggers to record the output of various sensors at fixed time intervals, but these platforms are fast becoming obsolete. As well as having only a limited memory capacity, data loggers can miss alarms if network connectivity is lost, and they frequently run out of battery power. Moreover, data loggers fail to account for any activity that occurs in the interval between measurements and, because individual data loggers monitor different systems, data must often be manipulated before being used.
Image. Depending on the ISO classification, different cleanrooms need to monitor different parameters. From particle counting, relative humidity, ambient temperature, differential pressure and much more, it is important that monitoring systems are installed professionally and hardware can’t be damaged by cleaning supplies.
Remote, real-time data acquisition is a preferred method for lab monitoring, providing up-to-date insights into key parameters with minimal operator intervention. Modern systems combine all readouts in a single software to simplify analysis and reporting, with data being recorded securely in the cloud for unlimited storage capacity and remote access by multiple users. Other features of newer remote lab monitoring systems include a modular design to enable scale up, and the ability to generate specified alarms when any parameter deviates from pre-set limits. It is also possible to configure user access roles, alarm escalation protocols, and quality reporting to suit a particular workflow or facility.
With time being such a precious commodity, particularly in the current situation, the thought of implementing, learning, and managing a lab monitoring system could be off-putting. Lab Monitoring-as-a-Service, a real-time data acquisition system that safeguards scientific investments with a redundancy of safety layers, addresses these concerns. Benefits include a 24/7 monitoring and support team that reduces the burden on lab and IT staff without compromising access or control, and software that provides streamlined reporting processes to ensure compliance with the highest U.S. and international standards.
To learn more about remote, real-time data acquisition or Lab Monitoring-as-a-Service, visit XiltriXUSA.com