The Cloud Takes Biotech Research to a Higher Plane

With advanced biotech laboratories using cloud based platforms and streamlined processes and making their services available to any research facility or lab, life science experiments and research will become much simpler, so much so, that some claim it will be as easy as launching a new app.

Whereas a routine experiment, if all went according to plan, would take up to a month to put into place, now conducting those same experiments over the cloud will be much more cost competitive and far more efficient. In some cases, setups take literally minutes to do and with new automated processes in place, with just a simple touch of a button 50 experiments can be carried out simultaneously.

The protocols for experiments are uploaded to the biotech lab’s servers remotely by researchers in a similar way Amazon Web Services works eliminating the necessity and expense of those individuals and companies of having to own, operate and maintain their own servers. The new cloud lab business approach represents a whole new concept of science as a service.

Anyone now has the ability to send samples to one of these labs or select from standard enzymes or plasmas from a drop-down menu to run physical lab experiments while sitting in front of their computer. With no prior knowledge or experience in coding and with limited input, the user can manage experiments with complete efficiency.

The experiments are robotically controlled using centralized software and the results turned around quickly, in most cases within just a few days. The results are organized and then made available in a database. In order to access facilities like these, users will only need a credit card and internet connection.

But more than that because of the lower costs and efficiencies, this new science as a service will allow for more experimentation and enable researchers especially those without deep pockets to work outside the normal scope of their laboratories.

Moreover, it will mean that drug development will no longer be left under the sole purview of the big pharmaceutical corporations. This new approach will open up the landscape for others to design and test new research without the burden of having to raise huge amounts of capital. In doing so, the hope is that it will lead to more discoveries and greater access for the majority of the population to promising and life-saving drugs.

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