Hello all,

Here is a quick summary of LECIS-related presentations from the recent LabAutomation'2003 meeting [Feb 1-5, 2003, Palm Springs, CA, USA]. The conference web site is located at http://labautomation.org/la/la03/index.htm.

There were three presentations that I was able attended in which people reported about projects that involved LECIS in one way or another. Two of those LECIS-related presentations were given by Sanjaya N. Joshi (sanjay@...) of Userspace Corporation. Here is the title and abstract for one of his presentations:

Performance Metrics of an LC-MS Proteomics Platform Using Real-time Embedded XML Infrastructure

ABSTRACT
Userspace Corporation has built a real-time embedded platform to gather information from the instruments in the Liquid Chromatography - Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) cluster.

Both the data and control paradigms utilize XML and web services based infrastructure with a scalable, networked instrument control layer.

As part of its collaboration with the Proteomics Laboratory at the Institute for Systems Biology, Userspace has built an information platform that can capture and process real-time information from the various instruments in the LC-MS cluster (Pump, Autosampler and Mass Spectrometer).

This includes performance metrics of the individual instruments and conditional process output with messaging capability.

A case study will be presented with specific parameters measured and tracked during the sample cycle.

In summary, Userspace implemented LECIS in a real-time, embedded system environment. Connecting instruments and exchanging LECIS-based commands between the controller and instruments was all done via XML messaging and a web services-based infrastructure. Mr. Joshi also showed a very impressive live demo of this architecture during his presentations. Through a secure wireless network, he used his laptop from the podium to remotely control a dispensing device that was set up by one of his colleagues in the back of the room. Within a few seconds of sending the command from his laptop to the device in the back of the room (which then immediately started to dispense a liquid into a container), his roaming cell phone rang and showed an SMS message from the embedded device controller indicating the execution status of the dispensing command. This demo was certainly a highlight for all the techies in the audience.

The third LECIS-related presentation was given by Roger McIntosh (roger.mcintosh@...) of Amersham Biosciences (co-authored by Alfred Yau of VI Technologies, alfred.yau@...). Here is the title and abstract of their presentation:

LabRAT (Laboratory Rapid Automation Toolkit): a Flexible and Robust Peer-to-Peer Architecture with XML Based Open Communication for Laboratory Automation

ABSTRACT
Traditional lab automation systems are highly centralized: dispatch and coordination of activities is mediated by a system controller, usually via a single, monolithic control procedure. This approach, while conceptually simple, makes changes to the system difficult; adding or removing instruments and functionality can be a daunting task. In addition, most automated systems are tied to particular development languages and protocols, making operation in heterogeneous environments (i.e. the real world) problematic, since instrument software comes in many different implementations.

We present a peer-to-peer architecture for lab automation, using an XML based communication protocol. The architecture consists of peer instrument servers, an XML communication layer, and an open control center. Each instrument peer can control, be controlled by, and communicate information to other instrument peers to fulfill the automation task. Our protocol is based on XML-RPC, a lightweight communication standard built atop HTTP. This provides an open and flexible means of peer-to-peer interfacing. The control center serves as a convenient, web-based interface to manage the instruments. The automated procedure can be distributed across all available instrument peers (each instrument assigned a set of responsibilities); the controller implements a limited set of high level instructions. The software components included in our prototype system are implemented in various programming languages, including Java, C/C++, Visual Basic, and LabVIEW. Our approach facilitates rapid development of laboratory automation systems.

The software described here was developed to automate sample preparation for DNA sequencing, but can serve to automate a wide variety of laboratory protocols. The software was developed in part with NHGRI research grant funding.

In summary, LabRAT is based on a  peer-to-peer architecture that uses XML-RPC messaging and parts of the LECIS common command set to enable controller-to-instrument and instrument-to-instrument communications. LabRAT is solely based on open standards. Therefore, it allows to build very flexible, device-, programming language-, and computing platform-independent laboratory automation systems.

Again, this is only a brief summary of the LECIS-related presentations that I was able to attend at LabAutomation'03. There may have been more presentations and/or posters that I was not aware of. Please let me know if I forgot to mention something. Thanks.

Have a nice day!

Torsten Staab
www.lecis.org

----------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe yourself from this list, visit http://www.lecis.org/contacts.htm