Time-saving tubes
Using pneumatic networks, the Lab2Lab system sends compound samples from research labs to analytics, thus simplifying and automating an essential step of drug discovery.
Published on 15/05/2023
Photos and text by Bjoern Myhre
Pneumatic tube networks have been around since the 19th century and were commonplace at banks, hospitals and factories around the world. Ingo Muckenschnabel and his team have taken this tried-and-tested approach and integrated it into fully automated state-of-the-art analytics to help speed up drug discovery.
Early-stage drug discovery starts with creating new chemical substances in a lab environment. The next step includes characterizing the substance in terms of purity, molecular weight and structure – each of which requires a sample of the substances to be run through a separate analytical tool.
These measurements are crucial for understanding the potential of the substance. Before Lab2Lab, scientists had to manually carry a sample to each of the separate machines and record the data themselves.
Lab2Lab allows scientists to scan and insert a bar-coded vial containing a single sample into a sender and then let automation take over.
Step 1: Extract a sample from an experiment and...
...place the specimen into a barcoded vial.
Step 2: Log in at a sender station. Select the desired form of analysis such as molecular weight, purity or other from a menu. Scan the vial.
Step 3: After dropping the vials into the sender, the air-compressed tubes transport the vials to the corresponding analytical machinery. Scientists can return to other experiments in the lab.
Step 4: In the centralized analytical labs at Novartis, the samples are characterized in terms of purity, molecular weight and structure, among other features.
Step 5: The results will appear in the mailbox.
The Lab2Lab system ensures that vials are processed as efficiently as possible and reduces redundancy by eliminating the need for analytical machinery to be located within walking distance of labs – saving valuable time for scientists and resources for the company. So far, the Lab2Lab system has been installed in more than five buildings across the research network of Novartis in Basel and Cambridge. Recently, work has started to interconnect the research buildings to allow sample transport across the laboratories.
