Cloud labs mean that anyone, anywhere can conduct experiments with remote control using nothing more than their browser. Experiments are programmed through a subscription-based online interface – the software then coordinates robots and automated scientific instruments to perform the experiment and process the data. Friday night is the busiest time of the week for Emerald, as scientists plan experiments to run while relaxing with their families over the weekend. Connecting an experiment to a browser forces researchers to translate the precise details of each step into clear code Further south in the San Francisco Bay Area are two more cloud labs run by Strateos. Racks of gleaming life science instruments – incubators, mixers, mass spectrometers, PCR machines – sit humming inside large Perspex boxes known as work cells. The setting is arguably even more futuristic than in Emerald. Here, reagents and samples are moved to the correct work cell on high-tech magnetic conveyor belts and gently placed in place by dexterous robot arms. Researchers’ experiments are “shifting,” says Strateos’ executive director of operations, Marc Siladi. The Emerald Cloud Lab in South San Francisco. The labs are equipped with more than 200 types of scientific instruments that can be controlled remotely from a software “command center.” Photo: Emerald Cloud Automation in science is nothing new, especially in fields like molecular biology, where much of the experimental work involves painstakingly and repeatedly transferring tiny amounts of liquid from one vial to another. The disruption caused by the pandemic has also encouraged a number of specialist facilities to develop ways to operate their equipment remotely. (The beams of the UK’s powerful Diamond Light Source, for example, a particle accelerator that produces ultra-high-energy radiation to probe matter, can now be operated by users from anywhere in the world.) And outsourcing difficult or time-consuming elements nor is the experimental process new. But Emerald and Strateos are different – these are the first labs in the world that theoretically allow anyone with a laptop and a credit card to “pay and play” with the entire inventory of reagents and array of instruments available at a world-class research facility. class. The appeal of this approach became apparent during the pandemic, when many researchers were unable to visit their labs in person. cloud labs founders say this is the future of life science. The most obvious benefit is productivity: researchers can run multiple experiments at once and queue them to run overnight or while they do other things. “Our professional users will do the work of 10 scientists in a traditional lab,” says Frezza. “They’re going to put up ridiculous numbers.” No time is needed to set up and tear down equipment, clean, maintain and fix instruments, or replenish supplies. Arctoris, a remote drug discovery lab in Oxfordshire, says its platform has completed projects for pharmaceutical companies in 24 hours that might take at least a week in a traditional environment. Instead of pipetting for hours every day, researchers can spend more time thinking, reading, and analyzing results with colleagues. Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh were so impressed by what staff and students could do at the Emerald Cloud Lab — one researcher was able to recreate years of his PhD experimentation in a matter of weeks — that they recently asked the company to build another , just for them. With a year’s access to a cloud lab often costing less than the price of individual high-tech lab equipment, Carnegie Mellon’s College of Science dean Rebecca Doerge says the model could be transformative. “I’m not just interested in changing science at Carnegie Mellon. I’m interested in changing the process of science worldwide,” he says of the new facility in Pittsburgh. “We all have colleagues in under-resourced places who can’t do the science that they are capable of just because they don’t have enough money. So with an internet connection and access to a cloud lab, that’s a game changer.” A Strateos smart lab in San Diego. The company claims it has “reengineered the lab as an intelligent data production center.” Photo: Strateos Doerge, a statistician turned science administrator, is also excited about removing variation and human error from experimental work. There will be no scientists based at the new 1,500 square meter location, just half a dozen technicians helping to keep the place running 24 hours a day. “People still go to wet labs and they still stand there and make mistakes. I don’t think everything is automatable in science, I’m not saying that. I’m just saying that the repetitive stuff, once you learn it, you don’t have to stand there and do it over and over and over.’ Scientists like Doerge believe the precision of remote labs could help correct what has come to be known as science’s “reproducibility crisis” — the troubling revelation that the results of reams of published research cannot be replicated when different groups of scientists follow the same methods exactly. Connecting an experiment to a browser to be run by a robot forces researchers to translate the precise details of each step into clear code. For example, what might once have been described in a scientific paper as “mix the samples” becomes detailed computer instructions for a specific machine to mix at a specific number of revolutions per minute for a specific time. Other factors that could affect the result, such as the ambient temperature at the time, are recorded in the metadata. While we have to remember that most people come from a good place, there are some pretty crazy ones out there As Doerge encouraged more and more research—and even teaching—at Carnegie Mellon to move to the remote labs, not all of her colleagues were supportive. Many scientists believe that working alongside colleagues at the bench and the sights and sounds of experimentation are what help generate exciting ideas and happy accidents. Others worry about the quality of data produced in labs they’ve never set foot in. “‘If I don’t see it with my own eyes, it doesn’t exist’—I’ve heard that from some faculty,” Doerge says. “It’s definitely a mindset shift.” Some experts believe that easy access to sophisticated laboratories is a potential biosecurity or bioterrorism threat. In theory, small groups or even individuals with no research experience could use a cloud lab to start performing complex biological experiments. “Laboratories say they only work with trusted partners, but of course they are very keen to open up their market,” says Dr Philippa Lentzos, a biohazard and biosafety expert at King’s College London. “While we have to remember that most people come from a good place, there are some pretty crazy ones out there. Barriers certainly fall if you want to intentionally do something harmful.” Cloud labs say they review all planned experiments and have systems in place to flag or reject any that appear illegal or dangerous. In addition, they argue, the full digitization of everything that happens in the lab makes it easier to record and monitor what people are doing than in a traditional lab. Paul Freemont, co-founder of the UK Innovation and Knowledge Center for Synthetic Biology, helped develop several highly automated laboratories in the UK, including a robotic platform that was able to run more than 1,000 Covid tests a day early in the pandemic . He’s not sure remote labs are yet “mature” enough to replicate what’s available to scientists building their own automated equipment. “I like the idea and I think this is the way science is going to go. It would work if we had all the necessary protocols and workflows that a biologist might need, but I think right now it’s not available at the level of sophistication and detail that one needs.” Scientists from Carnegie Mellon University. The foundation asked Emerald to build a dedicated cloud lab for it. Photo: Tim Kaulen/Carnegie Mellon University Freemont also has concerns about scientists not really understanding or…
