Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening
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| Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening | |
|---|---|
| Name | Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening |
| Abbreviation | SLAS |
| Formation | 2010 |
| Type | Professional association |
| Headquarters | Cary, North Carolina |
| Region served | Global |
Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening is a professional association focused on laboratory automation, screening technologies, and scientific information exchange, with ties to biomedical research and pharmaceutical development. The organization interfaces with entities such as National Institutes of Health, Food and Drug Administration, European Medicines Agency, Pfizer, and Novartis while engaging stakeholders from Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Johns Hopkins University, and University of Cambridge.
History
The organization traces roots through collaborations among corporate laboratories at Merck & Co., GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly and Company, and academic centers such as Scripps Research Institute, Rockefeller University, University of California, San Francisco, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and Max Planck Society. Early development involved meetings linked to conferences like American Association for Laboratory Automation gatherings, workshops sponsored by National Science Foundation, and initiatives connected to Wellcome Trust and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Significant milestones include mergers and rebranding influenced by partnerships with Society for Biomolecular Screening and alignments with consortia such as Innovative Medicines Initiative and Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. Leaders with affiliations to Howard Hughes Medical Institute, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, and Institut Pasteur contributed to governance, while strategic plans referenced standards from International Organization for Standardization and policies debated at World Health Organization assemblies.
Mission and Activities
The society's mission emphasizes advancement of laboratory automation, high-throughput screening, diagnostics, and translational research connecting stakeholders like Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Broad Institute, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Wellcome Genome Campus, and European Bioinformatics Institute. Core activities include convening symposia with exhibitors from Thermo Fisher Scientific, Agilent Technologies, PerkinElmer, Tecan Group, and Beckman Coulter Life Sciences; promoting standards involving Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments discussions; and supporting open science dialogues involving PLOS, Nature Publishing Group, Science Magazine, and Cell Press. The society fosters networks between investigators at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, and Karolinska Institutet.
Membership and Structure
Membership spans researchers, technologists, vendors, and administrators affiliated with institutions such as University of Pennsylvania, Yale University, University of Oxford, Imperial College London, and Technical University of Munich, and companies like Genentech, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Biogen, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Governance comprises an elected board with committees modeled after practices at American Chemical Society, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Association for Computing Machinery, and American Society for Microbiology. Regional chapters and special interest groups mirror arrangements seen in European Society of Cardiology and Japanese Society for Bioinformatics, while advisory councils include representatives from National Institute of Standards and Technology, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Publications and Conferences
The society publishes a peer-reviewed journal comparable to Journal of Biomolecular Screening and engages with publishers like Wiley-Blackwell, Elsevier, Springer Nature, and Oxford University Press to disseminate research. Annual meetings attract keynote speakers from Nobel Prize laureate institutions, panels with representatives from House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and workshops modeled after Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory courses. Conferences feature sessions on technologies by Illumina, Oxford Nanopore Technologies, 10x Genomics, GE Healthcare, and Siemens Healthineers, and include satellite symposia in collaboration with American Association for Cancer Research and Biophysical Society.
Awards and Recognition
The society administers awards recognizing innovation, leadership, and technical achievement with parallels to honors from Lasker Foundation, Royal Society, European Research Council, and Gairdner Foundation. Recipients often hold positions at Stanford University School of Medicine, UCLA, Princeton University, Columbia University, and ETH Zurich and have contributed to platforms adopted by National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, Cancer Research UK, and Institut Curie. Award ceremonies are held during major meetings alongside fellowships supported by organizations like Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
Education and Training Programs
Educational initiatives include short courses, certification programs, and hands-on workshops developed in partnership with training providers such as Coursera, edX, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, European Molecular Biology Organization, and EMBL-EBI. Programs cover skills deployed in laboratories at Broad Institute, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla Institute, and Riken, and incorporate guest instructors from MIT Media Lab, Harvard Medical School, and California Institute of Technology.
Industry Impact and Collaborations
Collaborations span pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and instrumentation sectors including Roche, Sanofi, Cellular Dynamics International, Sartorius, and Waters Corporation, and engage regulatory and funding agencies such as European Commission, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. The society's work influences procurement and validation practices at clinical centers like Johns Hopkins Hospital, Mount Sinai Health System, and Massachusetts General Hospital, and informs public–private partnerships modeled after Operation Warp Speed and Innovative Medicines Initiative.