eLabNext has exceeded Photanol’s expectations when we needed to adapt our way of working. Beyond being functional, the eLabNext has turned our sample archive into an open and interactive database where critical information is accessible to all at any time, and with minimal efforts. The functionalities of the platform help our colleagues save time and focus their efforts on their project rather than housekeeping. We’re sincerely looking forward to being surprised even more by the eLabNext of tomorrow!

Dr Théo Veaudor, Project Lead

About Photanol

The chemical industry has a significant negative impact on nature and the environment, but Photanol has a vision to turn our world's CO2 problem into a solution. Since 2012, Photanol has been utilizing cyanobacteria to develop sustainable alternatives for the production of carbon chemicals. With validated production routes for over a dozen compounds, Photanol has identified the most promising for its pilot marketable up-scaled production platform.

Lab-scale work including molecular cloning, strains validation and productivity monitoring is carried out at the company headquarters in Amsterdam. Selected strains are transferred to the operations team based in Delfzijl, focused on technology piloting and process development for scaled up sample production.

Goals

Short-term: Photanol’s current goal is to launch its first commercial flagship plant in 2030. The company aims to offer fossil- free carbon-based ethylene and propylene monomers to a wide array of users at a competitive price, as a big step towards a future with sustainable chemical production.

Long-term: The overall green mission of Photanol is to transform the chemical industry by capturing emitted CO2 with cyanobacteria to produce renewable chemicals—while leaving fossil resources in the ground.

Challenges

Before implementing eLabNext solutions in 2021, Photanol documented its scientific research and technical operations on paper lab books in compliance with IP requirements. This information was also compiled and shared across locations via a cloud server. As Photanol grew, this way of handling information became less effective than a fully digital solution like eLabNext. Producing reports and presentation slides required handling of written information that was generally difficult and time consuming and piecing information back together was also lengthy, requiring guidance from data owners. The team had to adapt its workflow to grant everyone quick and efficient access to previously generated knowledge.

Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic was eye-opening for Photanol as it revealed just how unsuited its data processes—especially paper lab journals—were for adaptability and remote working.

Solution

Upon opening new locations, Photanol made the switch to an electronic lab book that would better suit the company’s expanding needs—adopting eLabNext’s digital lab platform. This was a key time for the company to digitize as the team envisioned it would benefit colleagues old and new in all locations, helping to onboard new employees as well as simplifying data retrieval and management for ongoing and new projects.

Results

eLabNext revolutionizes sample traceability

The switch to eLabNext’s digital platform exceeded Photanol’s expectations, revolutionizing sample data for strains at the core of its technology. The company now has a way to store and track the whole data history of a strain that is instantly accessible to its employees from the initial pilot phase studies through to later development stages. The team has found the enhanced traceability of samples and data very helpful. Colleagues can easily share their results and findings about what works and what needs attention in the next round of engineering, which Photanol also found has eased communication.

Administration time halved

With eLabNext, Photanol has halved its time investment required for administration. Administration is now more accessible, more consistent and much faster—especially for communication between remote colleagues. The interface is user-friendly and the team at Photanol find it easy to upload and archive data. As a positive outcome, the team has reclaimed more time to spend on research rather than on administrative tasks.

Standardized distraction-free protocols

A specific gamechanger for Photanol was the standardizing of protocols. The standard format provides a distraction-free experience that emphasizes the content, improving efficiency. Moreover, version control issues have been eliminated with the final version now being the definitive version.

Additionally, Photanol has found that implementing signing and witness signing of protocols has further improved reproducibility of experiments—it also provides the company with the necessary audit trail required for operating under GMO licensing.

Limitless connections

Tools from the package that Photanol highlight as key to its new way of working are the inventory management and experiment templates within eLabNext.

The team finds the inventory management tool is really flexible—being able to track and document samples as extensively as needed—while the experimental templates give them a way to articulate the storyline between those samples by linking them together.

Of practical importance for Photanol, a product sample is traceable all the way back to the first cloning step in a few clicks. eLabNext enables Photanol to connect components and results from every individual step on an experiment workflow, for example, a primer to a PCR, to a vector, to a transfection, to a strain, to an inoculation, to a successful run; “it is virtually limitless!”

Future Plans

Looking to a greener future, Photanol plans to continue leveraging eLabNext to support research and commercial development for sustainable chemical production. As the company continues to harness the potential of cyanobacteria to produce other industrially relevant chemicals and push for a circular chemical industry, the team plans to utilize the traceability through eLabNext as sample numbers grow with more industry partners and connections.

Explore our solutions to enhance sample traceability and support sustainable innovation

‍