Scialog Aims to Spur Next Revolution in Lab Automation
Research Corporation for Science Advancement and the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation are co-sponsoring a new Scialog initiative to accelerate innovation in basic research and broaden access within the chemical enterprise through advances in automated instrumentation and artificial intelligence that could lead to fully automated, generalized chemical synthesis and analysis. Scialog: Automating Chemical Laboratories will hold the first of its three yearly meetings in 2024 in Tucson, Arizona.
This Scialog series will create an interdisciplinary community of about 50 early career scientists from distinct fields including all areas of synthetic chemistry (organic, inorganic, materials and biological), integrated and automated instrument development, engineering, materials science, computer and data science, and AI computer research. At each conference, Fellows will propose novel collaborative projects marrying advances in automation and AI to key questions in fundamental research. The goal is for researchers to make critical scientific advances while improving or developing new methods of automation, demonstrating the revolutionary potential of this approach to chemical synthesis. The most promising of those team projects will be awarded seed funding.
“Automated intelligence, machine learning, and computational modeling have made major advances in the past few years, and applying these advances to solve complex and interconnected biological and synthetic chemical challenges could transform the speed at which new materials and functional structures are developed and understood,” said Anne Hultgren, Executive Director of the Beckman Foundation.
“Whether this is through automated sample handling between different instruments or new designs that integrate systems, processes and workflows, there are plenty of engineering challenges and opportunities for the next breakthrough concepts that could change the way scientific laboratories function,” she said.
The group is also expected to discuss how future chemistry curriculum and workforce development must adapt to the sea changes in how basic research in the chemical sciences will be conducted in the future.
“Research areas in chemistry, materials science, engineering, and computer and data science have immediate potential for advancement from laboratory automation while simultaneously advancing the effectiveness of such automation,” said RCSA Senior Program Director Andrew Feig, who leads the initiative. “Example areas include new catalyst discovery, materials synthesis, and development of needed methods and instruments to support fully automated synthetic design and optimization. This could lower barriers in the field by making it possible for anyone with a great idea to rapidly make even complex synthetic targets without a large laboratory and an army of doctoral students and research staff.”
Feig said integrating automation and AI into chemical and biological laboratories could have profound impacts by optimizing results, improving safety, precision and reproducibility of experiments, and increasing the time scientists dedicate to analyzing and understanding research outputs while reducing the time they spend on rote tasks. Such technology can also take greater advantage of data on failed reactions, which rarely make it into the published literature, because the databases underlying the automation will capture and utilize every reaction tested, not just those that make it into a final publication.
Hultgren added that new automation and networking capabilities could spur innovation in novel directions by broadening access to large and expensive instruments that have traditionally been accessible to only a few highly trained scientists.
Scialog is short for “science + dialog.” Created in 2010 by RCSA, the Scialog format creates cross-disciplinary communities of early career scholars to push the boundaries of knowledge aligned with each theme. Participating scientists discuss challenges and bottlenecks, build community around visionary goals for how these technologies can be developed and deployed, and seek collaborators for cutting-edge projects they can work on together.
A group of approximately 10 senior facilitators will frame the large questions under consideration, guide discussions, and evaluate proposals.
Participation in the series of three-day conferences is by invitation. Click here for details on nominating yourself or a colleague.
Automating Chemical Laboratories will be RCSA’s 12th Scialog series and its first partnership with the Beckman Foundation.
“Arnold Beckman was a pioneer in laboratory automation whose company produced instruments that enabled accurate, reproducible, and rapid measurements across many scientific disciplines,” Hultgren said. “Advancing newly emerging technologies that will impact the next phases of laboratory automation through this Scialog is one way we can carry forward this legacy of innovation. “
Representatives of other foundations and organizations also attend Scialog conferences, creating a larger community of support and interest around the theme.
The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation, located in Irvine, California, supports researchers and nonprofit research institutions in making the next generation of breakthroughs in chemistry and the life sciences. Founded in 1977 by 20th century scientific instrumentation pioneer Dr. Arnold O. Beckman, the foundation supports institutions and young scientists whose creative, high-risk, and interdisciplinary research will lead to innovations and new tools and methods for scientific discovery.
Research Corporation for Science Advancement is a private foundation that funds basic research in the physical sciences (astronomy, chemistry, physics, and related fields) at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. It creates and supports inclusive communities of early career researchers through two core programs: the Cottrell Scholar Program and Scialog.
