omation mbers - Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening

4:00 pm Wednesday, February 4 Genomics – Informatics Room A1
Andrei Verner
McGill University and Genome Quebec Innovation Centre
740, Doctor Penfield, #7506
Montreal, Quebec, H3A 1A4 Canada
andrei.verner@staff.mcgill.ca
Feeding a Multiplatform Genome Center
The McGill University and Genome Quebec Innovation Centre consists of 5 platforms that reflect the main
directions in which genome research technology advanced in the last decade. These are: Genotyping, Sequencing,
Chip, Proteomics, and Bioinformatics platforms. All the platforms function independently, but complement each
other. The advantage of such architecture is that it allows for use of different approaches to tackle the same
problem. The principle of mutually complementing approaches is also used within the Genotyping platform.
Many novel methods of genotyping emerged recently, including those for Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP)
genotyping. In our Center SNP-genotyping may be done using 3 different methods. However, none of these SNPgenotyping
techniques have become an obvious method-of-choice, mainly because of a big variety of incoming
parameters. The best strategy depends on multiple factors, including the number of DNA samples, the number of
SNPs to score, the turnaround time, etc. Thus, the old technological conflict between flexibility and speed became
the problem of genomics. However, a combination of different techniques provides the recipe for success.
4:30 pm Wednesday, February 4 Genomics – Informatics Room A1
Roger McIntosh
Silicon Valley Scientific
P.O. Box 66749
Scotts Valley, California 95067
roger@mcintosh.com
Open Interfacing for Lab Automation
This talk describes the design issues and development challenges during the three year development and
deployment of a comprehensive lab automation software platform that uses XML and web services as its data
interchange mechanism. Alternate data exchange formats, including SOAP, CORBA, and DCOM, will be discussed.
Contrasts and comparisons of our approach with such alternate data interchange mechanisms, standardized
data formats, and open interfaces will be discussed. This talk should provide significant insight to any group
contemplating design and adoption of XML or web service based automation standards in the lab, particularly for
robot and instrument automation. Scheduling and control issues will also be discussed.
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