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trends in analytical chemistry vol. 15 no.9 1996

Laboratory information management systems

tional LIMS Conference held in

1

The 10th International LIMS Con-

ference was held at the Westin Wil-

liam Penn Hotel in Pittsburgh, PA,

USA. Between the third and sixth

days of June, more than four hundred

people from all over the world met to

discuss Laboratory Information Man-

agement Systems (LIMS), to meet

other people interested in this area,

and to see the latest LIMS develop-

ments and commercial systems avail-

able on display at the exposition.

As usual, the Conference was

preceded by three parallel one-day

short courses on Monday. They were:

A LIMS Primer by Joseph H. Gold-

en, LIMS: Strategies Tactics by

Bob McDowall, and Augmenting

Scientific Team Intelligence with

R D Team Computing Systems and

Collaborative Electronic Notebooks

by Rich Lysakowski. These short

courses covered topics from basic

LIMS acquisition concepts to the la-

test developments in LIMS.

Conference Chairman Richard R.

Mahaffey (Eastman Chemical Com-

pany), opened the Conference on

Tuesday, June 4, in the Grand Ball

Room, the same room in which the

Conference was born ten years ear-

lier. Then followed the program

session including 33 papers, 4 work-

shops, 4 discussion groups, and 2 in-

teractive sessions.

This years International LIMS

award went to Robert Megargle from

Cleveland State University for his

contributions to the fields of LIMS

and laboratory automation over many

years, and for mentoring numerous

graduate students in those areas of

study.

This important 10th anniversary

conference had the second largest

registration and the largest exhibitor

session with about 30 vendors. To cel-

ebrate the 10th anniversary, a special

Riverboat Dinner Cruise was held for

the guests and companions of the at-

tendees. This 10th birthday turning-

point also gave the participants a

chance to reflect on the consistencies

as well as the rapidly changing aspects

of the LIMS field over the years, since

the program touched on many old and

new topics. Many key LIMS issues

facing todays research, pharmaceuti-

cal, environmental, clinical and food

laboratories were well covered.

Internet and lntranet issues in

L/MS

One new product greeted partici-

pants as they walked toward the main

program hall. It was a demonstration

of an Internet session set up by the

LimSource company to show an

example of their home page, an at-

tempt to connect together all LIMS

topics and provide a ready source of

information. It is now on-line. For

those interested, please check

http://www.limsource.com/. In

todays information oriented world,

Internet and Intranet issues can be

expected to be on the LIMS con-

ferences agenda with increasing fre-

quency in the future.

The Internet and company-wide in-

tranet networks are drastically chang-

ing business-to-business communi-

cations enabling on-line information

exchange, quickly and conveniently at

low cost. According to Scott Johnston

(Automated Compliance Systems,

Inc.), when internet is combined with

LIMS capabilities, the laboratory can

benefit with improved productivity

and enhanced information-sharing

and decision-making with both inter-

nal and external clients. Some appli-

cations include remote sample and

test ordering, remote sample status

and result checking, linking

large

graphical or textual files to the LIMS,

and video, audio multi-media repor-

ting.

In a LIMS Mailing List discussion

group, Stu Miller (Geoscience Labor-

atories) introduced his work on an

internet accessible LIMS mailing list.

This list is a no-cost, public-accessible

mailing list intended to be used as a

vendor independent forum for any-

one at any stage in a LIMS project,

from researching the market to final

implementation. This list gives all

LIMS professionals a way to contact

others to discuss LIMS topics using

internet all over the world. Contact

Stu at [email protected].

Jo Webber (LabWare, Inc.) showed

a clear picture of what an open system

will really be like, and what advances

are now possible with Client/Server

technology. Since the PC at the client-

side allows the analysts to control

much of their work, plus seamless in-

strument LIMS integration, internet

access can substantially enhanced the

power of the desktop computer. Lab-

Ware also showed a LIMS product

capable of access through the Internet

for customer remote sample ordering,

result checking and result reporting.

Laboratory Automation

The LIMS is best viewed as a part

of laboratory automation, which is a

more encompassing view than separ-

ating the issues into topics like sample

aqtomation, measurement automat-

ion, and data processing automation.

Laboratory automation includes pro-

cessing samples through a sample

preparation routine, measurement or

analysis, data capture and manipula-

tion, result presentation, and archi-

ving. James Little (Zymark Corp.)

addressed the requirements of labor-

atory robotics and their critical suc-

cess factors. Because of the

complexity of laboratory operations,

he noted these problems could be at-

tacked by two different approaches,

either by automating the most com-

plex or difficult tasks first or by auto-

mating the most common and routine

tasks first. The second approach is

more reasonable because it will re-

duce complexity, increase success

rate, and reduce implementation time

and cost. Of course, the key issue is

still having committed, experienced

people to deliver a durable solution,

Robert Pavlis (Labtronics Inc.)


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VI

provided a solution to link LIMS with

Robotic samplers. The product is

called LimsLink and can link non- re-

lated systems and provide 2-way com-

munication. The big step is from

electronic communication to deci-

sion, which is helped by using intelli-

gent communication between LIMS

devices.

Reinhold Schaefer (Fachhochshule

Wiesbaden) gave a brief review of La-

boratory Automation and features of

the future LIMS. LIMS will become a

more integral part of any enterprises

information infrastructure. An inte-

grated architecture will consist of all

business applications and a decen-

tralized computing environment in

the laboratory.

He expected the

sample preparation will be automated

soon. A higher degree of automation

will enforce the development of auto-

mated error recovery and result inter-

pretation algorithms. Therefore, he

expects Artificial Intelligence metho-

dology will spread into the laboratory

rapidly. The future LIMS has to in-

clude support of different structures,

full integration with laboratory auto-

mation, existence of integrated soft-

ware development tools, and

networking communication.

Philip Le Zofte (Monsanto Chemi-

cal Co.) talked about how Monsanto

recently purchased SAP R/3 software

to consolidate financial and produc-

tion information and to improve cus-

tomer service. He described the work

done with LabSystems to link SAP

R/3 QM to the SampleManager LIMS

using QM-IDI.

Rich Lysakowski (TeamScience,

Inc.) described Collaborative Elec-

tronic Notebooks and R D team

computer systems which he thinks will

be the next big wave in laboratory

automation systems. This system will

combine record keeping practices,

networking,

multi-media report

generating, and easy-to-use interfaces

to all data sources from the whole

organization. This will be used for do-

cuments, instruments, LIMS, work-

flow management, and others systems

all linked together to provide crucial

real-time information to R D and

testing laboratory teams.

Validation Issues

Many speakers emphasized valida-

tion issues as one of those inevitable

tasks that you have to do, but for which

there are few specific rules to follow.

Validation starts at the beginning of

the development life cycle and con-

tinues through to system retirement. It

is a process needing both manage-

ment commitment and user involve-

ment.

Steve OConnor (The Procter and

Gamble Company) presented a vali-

dation guide under development by

ASTM which highlights subjects like

the LIMS validation team, the valida-

tion process, LIMS vendor assess-

ment, and the LIMS life cycle.

Validating the various laboratory

computers is no small task. Even with

help from a validation consulting

company, the lab manager still faces

many problems. It is hoped the ASTM

guide will provide a template the or-

ganization can use for performing

their own LIMS validation.

Rory Budihandojo (Warner-Lam-

bert) described what kind of expecta-

tions an end-user can expect from an

audit of a computer vendor in the

pharmaceutical industry. Included is

review of vendor documentation from

the development life cycle of the sys-

tem, such as programming standards,

configuration management, and test-

ing records. One can also expect to

review promised vendor support dur-

ing the implementation phase of the

system. Even review of the vendors

personnel, facilities, and organization

elements are important.

Re-engineering and LIMS in future

Many companies and institutions

around the world are undergoing the

re-engineering of businesses and busi-

ness processes in order to compete

successfully in todays changing

world. Traditional methods of busi-

ness are failing because the world has

changed since they were designed.

How these changes effect LIMS de-

sign, functionality of LIMS, and the

new challenges they present to de-

velopers and users of LIMS was an

important theme of this Conference.

John Trigg (Kodak European Re-

search) selected a list of 10 business

needs for a LIMS and asked which

were the most important for the

benefit of the enterprise. His answer

was the need for data storage and

archiving and awareness of errors.

Of lowest importance was use of

trends in analytical chemistry vol. 15 no. 9 1996

LIMS for customer invoicing. These

kinds of considerations will define the

functionality of LIMS in the future.

According to Graham Martin

(Origin, UK), the new integrated style

of business needs integrated software

and information systems. That kind of

system will change the Customer/Sup-

plier relationship, improve quality

control in Manufacturing, and allow

setup of an on-line, real- time virtual

laboratory. In general, LIMS can as-

sist there- engineered comp ny

by

(a)

routing the required information in

the desired format to its place of use

at the time it is needed, (b) enabling

the analytical information to be gener-

ated fromwithin the core process, and

(c) retain low level data where it is

most needed, such as results and raw

data, measurement process, and la-

boratory cost information.

Is it possible that a standard LIMS

would fit all situations? Kyle McDuf-

lie (Taratec Development, Inc.) said a

single commercial LIMS solution is

desirable, but not easy. Even the same

LIMS product would have to been

implemented differently to best serve

the individual site. Local flexibility vs.

global consistency is an important

issue in a LIMS, but all the other

issues must also be carefully managed.

According to McDuffie, it can be

done with a high success rate.

Today we have technologies that

short-circuit the process of creating

and changing a LIMS. One from the

hardware side could be a scalable

client/server. From the software side,

one answer could be a powerful set of

end-user tools. System implementors

could use the LIMS tools to create a

login screen, interface an instrument,

add a review screen, create a query,

add a field to a table, link an object

(document, chromatogram, photo-

graph, or a video clip) to a sample,

write a report, define a calculation, or

add a table to the database. Neil1 Mar-

tin (Varian) reported they already

have such object-oriented windows-

based end-user LIMS tools. This

strategy should help LIMS to accom-

modate more easily the changes in

working practices.

Next

Conference

The 11th International LIMS Con-

ference is scheduled for 3-5 June 1997

at The Hague, The Netherlands. For


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trends in analytical chemistry vol. 15 no.9 1996

VII

details, please contact Jackie Billings,

Event Manager, Jay Conference Ser-

vices, 45 Hilltop Avenue, Hullbridge,

Hockley, Essex SS5 6BL UK or check

http://www.limsource.com/institute/

limsll.html.

R. MEGARGLE

Dr R. Megargle s at he Department of

Chemistry Uni versit y of Cleveland

Cleveland OH USA.

Total reflection X-ray fluorescence analysis and

related methods

A report on the 6th Conference

on Total reflection X-Ray Fluo-

rescence Analysis and Related

Methods TXRF 96) held in

Eindhoven The Netherlands)

and Dortmund Germany), lo-

14

June 1996.

The 6th Conference on Total reflec-

tion X-Ray Fluorescence Analysis

and Related Methods (TXRF 96)

was held 10-14 June 1996, in Eind-

hoven (The Netherlands) and Dort-

mund (Germany), organised by

Philips Research Laboratories Eind-

hoven and the Institut fur Spektro-

chemie und Angewandte Spek-

troskopie (ISAS), in cooperation with

the Royal Dutch Chemical Society

(KNCV) and the Gesellschaft Deut-

scher Chemiker. The double location

ensured close coupling with environ-

ments where the various aspects of

TXRF flourish. Moreover, during the

trip between the two locations it was

possible to visit Remscheid-Lennep,

the birth place of W.C. Roentgen.

Nearly a quarter of the conference

was devoted to semiconductor ana-

lysis. Total reflection X-Ray Fluores-

cence (TXRF) nowadays is used

widely for measuring contaminants on

semiconductor surfaces. The detec-

tion limits of the TXRF measure-

ments are in the order of 10

atoms/cm2 for 3d transition metals.

These values are diminished by two or

three orders of magnitude if the con-

taminants on a whole semiconductor

wafer are collected into less than 1

cm2 using vapor phase decomposi-

tion. An IS0 activity for semiconduc-

tor TXRF analysis should result in a

certified method within a year. Sev-

eral authors reported on the presence

of spurious peaks in TXRF spectra

which complicate good analysis. Most

of the effects are be understood, but

they cannot be avoided in all cases and

proper action from manufacturers

may be required.

The sensitivity of TXRF can be im-

proved further by the use of synchro-

tron radiation instead of a

conventional sealed or rotating-

anode X-ray tube. Several other syn-

chrotron experiments were discussed.

Not only the high intensity, but also

the polarization and the tunability of

the incident wavelength were ex-

ploited. This resulted in papers on

TXRF of light elements and with

various excitation geometries (Streli

and Goergl, Atominstitut Austria), X-

ray standing waves (Bedzyk, Ar-

gonne, USA) and Total-reflection

X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy

(Kawai, Kyoto University, Japan).

Another part of the conference

dealt with thin-film analysis by TXRF

and related methods to obtain layer

density, thickness and composition.

Angle-dependent TXRF can be

strengthened if combined with X-Ray

Reflectometry (Leenaers and Vrak-

king, Philips, The Netherlands), ion

beam sputtering (Schwenke and

Wiener, GKSS, Germany) or laser ab-

lation (Quentmeier, ISAS, Germany).

Apart from synchrotron radiation,

other new techniques and instrumen-

tation discussed include Total-reflec-

tion Particle-Induced X-ray Emission

(Van Kan, Vrije Univ. Amsterdam,

The Netherlands), Grazing-Emission

XRF for depth profiling and micro

and trace analysis (De Bokx, Philips,

The Netherlands; Claes, Univ. An-

twerp, Belgium), Glancing-Incidence

and Takeoff X-ray Analysis (Tsuji, To-

hoku Univ., Japan) and Total-reflec-

tion X-ray excited current detected by

a Scanning Tunneling Microscope

(Tsuji, Tohoku Univ., Japan).

The second half of the conference

was mainly devoted to micro and trace

analysis by TXRE For this kind of

analysis a small amount of material

containing the analyte is applied onto

a substrate. At glancing incidence the

background due to scattering at the

substrate is minimized. The detection

limits mentioned above, expressed as

absolute amounts of analyte, are in the

pg region for conventional instru-

ments.

Improvements

of TXRF in-

strumentation by using a molybde-

num-tungsten alloy X-ray tube and a

double-multilayer monochromator

were discussed by Prange (GKSS,

Germany), whereas recent develop-

ments in detector technology (germa-

nium detectors, digital pulse

processing) were reviewed by Ellis

(Oxford Instr., UK).

Various authors reported on appli-

cations of TXRF in industry such as

the analysis of oil, fruit juice, sugar,

cosmetics and pharmaceutical pro-

ducts, on biological and biomedical

applications such as the analysis of

plants and cancerous tissue, on envi-

ronmental applications such as the

analysis of aerosols and air dust and

of sea, river and mineral water, and on

other applications such as the analysis

of old violin varnishes and of archae-

ological samples .

Gohshi (Univ. Tokyo, Japan) gave

the last talk of the conference, entitled

Future of TXRF. He indicated the

potential of some of the instrumental

developments mentioned above.

Apart from synchrotron radiation,

parametric X-ray emission and X-ray

holography may enhance the possi-

bilities of TXRE

The proceedings of this conference

will be published in the beginning of

1997 in

Spectrochimica Acta B.

The

7th Conference in this series is

planned for September 1998 in Austin

TX, USA.

D.K.G. DE BOER and

R. KLOCKENKAEMPER

(conference chairmen)

Di ck KG . de Boer is at Phi l i ps Re-

search Laborat ori es Ei ndhoven WB21

Buil ding: WB 217 Prof Hol stlaan 4

Eindhoven The Net herl ands.

Reinhol d Kl ockenkaemper i s at he n-

sti tut fi ir Spekt rochemi e und Ange-

w andte Spekt roscopie Dor tm und

Germany.

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