From my past experience working in the lab, accurately documenting experiments, maintaining protocols, and managing inventory have always been significant challenges. However, with eLabNext, scientists can focus on the science while leaving the rest to eLabNext.

Yi-Ru Yu, Senior Scientist at Pilatus Biosciences

About Pilatus Biosciences

Founded in 2022, Pilatus Biosciences, based in Epalinges, Switzerland, is an immunotherapy R&D company focused on the discovery and development of first-in-class antibodies and bifunctional proteins targeting metabolic checkpoints in cancer.

The company’s small but dedicated in-house team focus on drug development-related studies to target particular cancer types. The team conducts in vivo efficacy studies, in vitro functional assays and ex vivo human culture system experiments. The company also collaborates with academic and industry partners to build transformative immunotherapy pipelines, advancing the field of cancer treatment.

Goals

Short-term

Pilatus Biosciences' immediate focus was to establish a robust and efficient lab environment that could support its everyday lab operations and drive pioneering research in immunotherapy.

Long-term

‍In the long term, Pilatus Biosciences aspires to become a leading player in the field of cancer immunotherapy. The company aims to expand its research capabilities, enhance collaboration and revolutionize cancer treatment with immuno-microenvironment reprogramming.

Challenges

Prior to adopting eLabNext systems, individuals at Pilatus Biosciences relied on paper lab notebooks for recording experimental processes. The team found paper documentation to be considerably time consuming to complete, and an inefficient system to be using when it came to searching for key information previously recorded in handwritten notes. Moreover, they found paper records posed significant challenges when collaborating with colleagues and industry and academic partners.

Collaboration was another concern. Sharing information with colleagues, industry partners and academic collaborators necessitated creating separate digital files, which added to the workload. Linking paper records with digital data stored in platforms like Prism or Microsoft Excel was cumbersome and increased the risk of mismanaging experiments. When setting up a new lab, the team at Pilatus was determined to avoid these inefficiencies by adopting a digital lab management system from the outset.

Solutions

As a result of advice from their industry colleagues, Pilatus Biosciences decided to implement eLabNext as its foundational lab management systems. eLabNext’s platform was recognized as an ideal solution for managing materials, protocols, and experiments, perfectly aligning with Pilatus' needs in its new lab setup.

By adopting eLabNext from the beginning, Pilatus ensured that the lab was equipped with an all-in-one digital system that would support their ambitious research goals.

Results

Compared to previous personal experiences, the team at Pilatus Biosciences found that using eLabNext’s digital systems in their new lab significantly reduced the time they spent writing protocols and experimental notes, freeing up more time for their scientists to focus on conducting experimental studies.

Pilatus Biosciences was particularly impressed with the convenience of the newly adopted online inventory management system. eLabInventory has become a crucial workflow tool for managing experiments. The company uses the digital inventory to help efficiently manage clinical samples collected from around the world, and to also link them directly to specific experiment files and data for extremely convenient easy access and tracking.

Most importantly for Pilatus Biosciences, the eLabNext, enables transparent information sharing among colleagues, which greatly aids in managing experiments. Everyone in the team can now access experimental data, protocols and sample information from a time-efficient searchable manager, which wasn’t possible with a paper-based system.

Pilatus Biosciences’ digital system is much more organized than handwritten notes and far easier to adjust, particularly parameter changes in updated protocols. Additionally, the team now has a system that is adaptable to their changing needs as the company grows and expands.

Future Plans

Looking ahead, Pilatus Biosciences plans to continue leveraging eLabNext to support its expanding research initiatives. As the company continues to pioneer immuno-microenvironment reprogramming and explore new cancer therapies, the team plans to harness the flexibility of the platform to accommodate new projects, manage larger datasets, and facilitate collaboration with a broader range of partners.

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