About
People
Dr. Derek Croote Chief Technical Officer
Overall Goal
Streamlining R&D activities for accelerated growth.
Approach
Investing in a comprehensive lab automation and management solution from Labguru.
Results
- Labguru has saved IgGenix tens of thousands of dollars by eliminating routine manual work and research data management.
- The Labguru Workflow Editor is harnessed for routine data processing, freeing researchers to focus on the interpretation of data and experiment planning.
- Labguru’s native integration between the ELN and the inventory system allows samples to be linked with experiments and enables scientists to look up every experiment in which a specific antibody was used in just a few seconds.
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Dr. Derek Croote
Chief Technical Officer
IgGenix is a biotechnology startup aiming to develop therapeutics for allergic diseases. The IgE antibody mediates allergic reactions by binding food allergens and docking onto the surface receptors of histamine-containing cells. The IgGenix team was the first to characterize the IgE-producing B cells, which turned out to be extremely rare. This complicates research on allergic reactions, but IgGenix solves the problem by harnessing innovative single-cell techniques to isolate IgE-producing B cells. The company’s scientists then express and characterize IgE antibodies to shed light on the allergens they bind and their binding affinities. By engineering the IgE antibodies, the same molecules that play a key role in the mediation of allergic reactions can become the basis for their treatment.
We interviewed Dr. Derek Croote, Chief Technical Officer at IgGenix.
Choosing Labguru
IgGenix has been using Labguru since its inception. Dr. Croote himself was tasked with selecting the best electronic laboratory notebook (ELN) solution, and his extensive research led him to the conclusion that Labguru provides the best value. Dr. Croote was impressed by Labguru’s track record of feature growth over time and by the full suite of functionalities that span an ELN, an inventory system, informatics software, and more.
Implementation went off without a hitch. The IgGenix team found Labguru’s interface very intuitive, rendering the onboarding process easy and saving the time that would normally be spent training employees to use the system. IgGenix scientists also appreciate the way the interface is divided into specific components, such as protocols, experiments, papers, and inventory, allowing new users to begin working quickly.
Innovation
Dr. Croote believes that Labguru is crucial for an early-stage biotech company to move forward as quickly as possible. His team uses the ELN extensively and makes heavy use of the inventory system, as well. The native integration between the ELN and the inventory system, which allows samples to be linked with experiments, enables IgGenix scientists to look up every experiment in which a specific antibody was used in just a few seconds. This has been proven to be a powerful tool for understanding the unique properties of the antibodies they discover, paving the way for novel therapies for allergic conditions.
Automation
IgGenix uses Labguru’s Workflow Editor for routine data processing, allowing its researchers to focus on what’s most important - the interpretation of data and experiment planning. One example is the automatic cleaning, reformatting, and plotting of qPCR data when a CSV file is uploaded to an experiment. Instead of having to manually process the raw data file and plot it, the Workflow editor does everything automatically as soon as a file is uploaded. The Workflow editor even recognizes the size of the plate and performs the suitable matching analysis. Its output is an interactive visualization of the data, which can be used to single out the wells that merit further investigation. Dr. Croote is also planning to leverage Labguru to automate the data uploading process itself. Soon, the PCR machine will be connected to Labguru, and when files are saved, they will be automatically uploaded to the relevant experiments in Labguru, saving even more time.
Labguru saves us up to one week per month that would otherwise be wasted on repetitive manual work.
Customization
Dr. Croote happily reports that Labguru features great API documentation, facilitating the creation of workflows based on that documentation. After establishing a number of workflows, he was able to build upon them and automate even more features. He is also extremely satisfied with the Labguru inventory management system, which allows his team to track the location and quantity of both consumable items and invaluable assets such as antibodies. IgGenix uses the option to customize your collections, creating a custom inventory collection for their single-cell RNA sequencing plates. This enables the recording of their unique properties in custom fields, so that researchers can keep track of them and add them to relevant experiments as they move through the single-cell RNA sequencing process.
ROI from Labguru
Dr. Croote calculates that Labguru has already saved IgGenix tens of thousands of dollars. Time is the most valuable resource for startups due to their typically small teams. This means that using Labguru to save time on routine manual work or research data management makes a tremendous financial difference. Take the qPCR workflow, which is but one of many workflows that Dr. Croote designed. IgGenix runs hundreds of plates through qPCR every month, and automating the process of cleaning, reformatting, and plotting that data saves about 10-15 minutes per plate. Dr. Croote estimates that Labguru saves his team up to one week every month that would otherwise be wasted on repetitive manual work.
Last but not least, Dr. Croote finds the Labguru support team highly responsive and very helpful, enhancing his team’s great Labguru experience.