India 's First Lab Management Academy - SILMA

What is Lab Management?

Management itself means gathering a group pf people or mentoring them in order to deliver/complete a task within a given time. Every activity has a type of management involved in it.There are various types of managements like time management, cost management, project management, risk management, emergency management, finance management and also lab management.

Lab work today is a must in almost all colleges/universities be it Indian or foreign. Students/Researchers are wanting to become Research fellows rather a white collar personnel these days, and it is a unmentioned day-to-day activity of the senior lab members, to mould the budding scientists for smooth running of their lab and here comes in play the lab management.

One of the important component of the Resource Management are the instruments and chemicals used for the process, and our lab management academy mainly focuses on the issues faced by the researchers in using the instruments and handling people.

Click Here to understand  ISO 17025

About SILMA

The launch of Scientific International Lab Management Academy (SILMA) is an attempt to enhance the leadership and management skills of researchers and thereby enhance the overall quality of the applied research enterprise. The programs will provide examples of how good research administrators can help research teams become more productive, quality-vigilant, compliant, and safe; make a more satisfying research workplace; mitigate institutional risk; and advance science and careers.

Today the Labs are not just the research labs. They are important aspects of improving the top line and bottom line of Industry. Even in pure R&D Labs, researchers have to think on the ROI coming from the investments made on Labs. As tag line of "Lab Manager" magazine says "Run your lab like a business", it is going to be very very important for the researchers and scientist to focus on improving the quality of INPUT, THROUGHPUT & OUTPUT. Lab manager Magazine has kindly agreed to share their published resources with us to help you.

We are also seeking help from publications from HOWARD HUGHES MEDICAL INSTITUTE(HHMI),a nonprofit medical research organization that ranks as one of the largest philanthropies, plays a powerful role in advancing biomedical research and science education in the United States, to impart training to Indian Scientists.

We will try to provide articles/papers/ideas to improve lab productivity covering all aspects of Management. We invite all like minded people to join this mission and help India become global resource for high quality research.

Make your Right Moves- A Practical Guide to Scientifıc Management for Postdocs and New Faculty (Courtesy: HHMI)

Chapter Wise Guide

Chapter 1 - Obtaining and Negotiating a Faculty Position

Chapter 2 - Understand University Structure

Chapter 3 - Laboratory Leadership in Science

Chapter 4 - Staffing Your Laboratory

Chapter 5 - Mentoring & Being Mentored

Chapter 6 - Laboratory Time Management

Chapter 7 - Laboratory Project Management

Chapter 8 - Laboratory Data Management

Chapter 9 - Getting Funded

Chapter 10 - Getting Published and Increasing your Visibility

Chapter 11 - Understand Technology Transfer

Chapter 12 - Setting Up Collaborations

Chapter 13 - Teaching and Course Design

Understand ISO 17025

KNOWING THE PRINCIPLES BEHIND ISO/IEC 17025 CAN HELP LAB MANAGERS AND ASSESSORS UNDERSTAND THE INDIVIDUAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE STANDARD.

ISO/IEC 17025 is a standard that sets out the specific requirements to be met by laboratories wishing to achieve the production of competent results as a matter of course. These requirements were developed by groups of laboratory experts from around the world over the course of 30 years. From the first, laboratory competence has been the paramount consideration. In today’s world, recognition of such competence generally requires that laboratories which have implemented the requirements of the standard also work to obtain accreditation. Accreditation involves assessment and, like all auditassociated activities, assessment of technical competence requires trained assessors to deliver these assessments. Assessors must be fully cognizant of each of the requirements in the standard.

During the course of their work, assessors will often encounter situations where they are forced to defend particular requirements to a laboratory seeking accreditation and, while they understand the specific requirement under discussion, they may not be able to clearly articulate why such a requirement exists in the first place. That is to say — they may not be able to identify the principles which underlie the stated requirement. At the same time, a laboratory’s blind adherence to each of the requirements of the standard, while better than no system at all, is not an approach which instills confidence in their ability to produce competent results. Nor is it the best approach to use in acquiring recognition of such competence. ISO 9000:2000 is now well-known and respected around the world as a standard which aims at having conforming organizations implement a “model for excellence.” While some may see this aim as a very ambitious one for any organization, the standard effectively breaks down the elements which an organization can readily achieve in their implementation of such a model. One of the great strengths of ISO 9000:2000 is its clear basis on principles which can be easily articulated and understood. Those who live and work in the world of laboratories also adhere to specific principles, but these have not been articulated in one collection. Such principles would provide a clearly understood basis for the requirements of the standard which most directly impacts laboratory operations.

The objective of this article is to provide a listing of the principles behindISO/IEC 17025. These can be used by laboratories to better appreciate individual requirements of the standard. The article can also be used by assessors in understanding how or why a specific requirement can help (or perhaps hinder) a laboratory to implement the processes required for the recognition of their competence.

From study of the standard and its impact on laboratory operations over the course of the last twelve years, the following principles are considered to be the main forces behind all of the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025:

• Capacity
• Exercise of Responsibility
• Scientific Method
• Objectivity of Results
• Impartiality of Conduct
• Traceability of Measurement
• Repeatability of Test
• Transparency of Process

CAPACITY

Laboratories must have the resources (people with the required skills and knowledge, the environment with the required facilities and equipment, the quality control, and the procedures) in order to undertake the work and produce technically valid results.

EXERCISE OF RESPONSIBILITY

Persons in the laboratory organization must be allocated the authority to execute specific functions within the overall scope of work — and the organization must be able to demonstrate accountability for the results of their work.

SCIENTIFIC METHOD

Work carried out by the laboratory must be based on accepted scientific approaches, preferably consensus-based, and any deviations from accepted scientific approaches must be substantiated in a manner considered generally acceptable by experts in that field.

OBJECTIVITY OF RESULTS

Results produced within the scope of work of the laboratory must be mainly based on measurable or derived quantities. Subjective test results should be produced only by persons deemed qualified to do so and such results should be noted as being subjective, or known by experts in that field of testing to be mainly subjective.

IMPARTIALITY OF CONDUCT

The pursuit of technically valid results through the use of generally accepted scientific approaches is the primary and over riding influence on the work of persons executing laboratory tests and calibrations — all other influences should be considered secondary and not permitted to take precedence.

TRACEABILITY OF MEASUREMENT

The results produced, within the scope of work of the laboratory, must be based on a recognized system of measurement that derives from accepted, known quantities (SI system) orother intrinsic or well-characterized devices or quantities. The chain of comparison of measurement between these accepted, known quantities or intrinsic devices or quantities, and the device providing objective results, must be unbroken for the competent transfer of measurement characteristics, including uncertainty, for the whole of the measurement chain.

REPEATABILITY OF TEST

The test which produced the objective results will produce the same results within accepted deviations during subsequent testing, and within the constraints of using the same procedures, equipment, and persons used during a previous execution of the test.

TRANSPARENCY OF PROCESS

The processes existent within the laboratory producing the objective results should be open to internal and external scrutiny. This is to identify and mitigate factors that may adversely affect the laboratory's ability to produce technically valid results, primarily objective and based on scientific method.

CONCLUSION

These eight principles may not cover every aspect of every requirement in the standard, but they are broad enough to allow persons working in laboratories to appreciate the reasons behind most of the individual requirements. They may also allow assessors to use their professional judgement in assessing the conformance of a laboratory to each of the requirements within the standard.