BioData picked up a nod from The Scientist for its web application called Labguru. Named among the magazine's Top 10 Innovations of 2012, the app offers scientists the ability to manage their lab work on their desktop or iPad easily and inexpensively.
Israel-based BioData announced the release of Labguru in December 2011 and offers a basic version of the app to individuals for free, enabling them to plan and track experiments, among other things. An enhanced version can cost about $100 per year per user, according to The Scientist, and allows folks in the lab to tap collaboration and logistical tools.
PerkinElmer ($PKI) and Accelrys ($ACCL) are among the leading providers of electronic laboratory notebooks (ELNs), which have found an audience in pharma and biotech companies seeking ways to boost productivity in their research operations. Yet at least some academics have found that BioData's new app topped ELN software in improving productivity and accountability.
"What I see is that people in the lab are more consistently entering their data there," Gustavo Valbuena, a research pathologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, said, as quoted by The Scientist.
The lab software landed in the No. 4 spot on the magazine's top 10 list, following such inventions as the Ion Proton sequencing system from Life Technologies ($LIFE) and tech for synthesizing genes from the startup Gen9.
- check out the list
Special Report: 15 mobile apps in Life Sciences - 2012