AGENDA
5-6 May, 2027 | ExCeL London
London, 6 - 7 May 2026
Schedule
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5km Fun Run
Meet at the West Terrace of the ExCeL, next toDockers Statue
More info & registration:https://www.terrapinn.com/exhibition/london-lab-live/5k-Fun-Run.stm
Day 1 Opening Remarks
Keynote Panel: Promise, Practicality, and Performance: Navigating sustainable growth across the UK R&D landscape
- What are the UK's specific competitive advantages as a global hub for innovation and scale and how can we leverage these?
- How can we shift the conversation from the sheer volume of capital to the strategic deployment of funds?
- What are the barriers and solutions for attracting top international and retaining UK
- research talent?
- What are some examples of how partnerships are helping to developing ecosystems and enabling R&D scale?
Introducing the Connectivity Excellence Showcase
- Connectivity is a challenge for every lab, regardless of size or industry. Most connectivity discussions stay theoretical. AtLondon Lab Live, we’re making it physical.
- We are providing live, hands-on demonstrations of fully connected interoperable workflows.
- Developed in partnership with Splashlake & SiLA
Break
Break
Round Table: Strategies to attract international talent to the UK
Chair
Chair
Functional Genomics in the Era of Agentic AI
Instrumenting Innovation: Deploying Automation for Next-Generation Ingredient Testing
Making your Lab Asset Data an Unfair Advantage with AI
Inconsistent equipment data is more than a nuisance; it is a liability that slows decision-making and inflates costs. This session introduces the PerkinElmer Asset Intelligence Service (AIS), a solution that leverages AI to transform fragmented inventory lists into a strategic asset. Discover how AIS standardizes "dirty" data, reducing manufacturer name variations by 63%, to create a single source of truth. Attendees will learn how clean, classified data unlocks critical capabilities, including accurate benchmarking, and right-sized entitlements, ultimately accelerating digital transformation in the laboratory
Paracetamol becomes sustainable: producing painkillers from plastic waste
Why Experimental Data is the New Frontier in AI for Materials
While AI excels at in silico material prediction, translating digital discoveries into physical reality remains a major bottleneck. To advance, we must tightly integrate computation with high-fidelity experimental data. This session explores how automated labs and standardized data will enable us to build robust AI models capable of bridging the gap between simulation and reality.
From Wet to Dry Labs: Transforming R&D through Digitalization, Automation and AI Readiness
R&D is shifting from experimentation-driven wet labs to data-centric, intelligence-driven dry labs. This talk explores how digitalization, automation, and AI-ready data architectures are redefining discovery, development, and manufacturing. We will examine the evolution from fragmented lab software to integrated, self-describing data assets that enable closed-loop Design–Make–Test–Learn workflows. Real-world examples highlight how standardized, FAIR data, orchestration, and automation turn experiments into predictions, accelerate time-to-market, reduce costs, and lay the foundation for scalable, trustworthy AI across the R&D lifecycle.
What do the new Innovate UK and upcoming UKRI strategies mean for innovation funding in your organisation?
UKRI and Innovate UK are developing new strategies. UKRI’s new mission is ‘to advance knowledge, improve lives and drive growth’. Its new vision is ‘for an outstanding research and innovation system in the UK that gives everyone the opportunity to contribute and to benefit, enriching lives locally, nationally and internationally’. As steward of this system, UKRI will work with many organisations to catalyse, convene, incentivise, invest in and carry out research and innovation. This session will outline these evolving strategies and explain how they will support curiosity driven research, address government and societal priorities, and help innovative companies start, scale and stay in the UK
Green Labs at Scale: How Policy and Purchasing Are Driving Industry Adoption
Sustainable laboratory practices are no longer a “nice to have.” Across pharma, biotech, and research institutions, policy frameworks and procurement requirements are rapidly transforming green labs from voluntary initiatives into industry standards. This session explores how regulatory pressure, corporate climate commitments, and supplier tiering programs are accelerating adoption at scale. Drawing on real-world examples from global biopharma and CRO networks, we will examine how transparency, third-party verification, and harmonized purchasing criteria are creating a single sustainability signal across the lab ecosystem — turning ambition into measurable, system-wide impact.
Data-Driven Design and Structure Prediction with CDD Vault
This session will explore CDD Vault’s AI-driven platform for therapeutic design, property prediction, assay output estimation, protein structure prediction, and ligand binding analysis. Users can efficiently design and explore novel chemical designs, modified peptides, oligonucleotides, and conjugates while managing large datasets. The zero-click model automatically applies predictive algorithms touser's owndata, alongside Boltz2, DiffDock, AlphaFold, and Bioisostere suggestions. Attendees will learn about the workflows for analyzing and visualizing complex datasets, collaborating across teams, and maintaining secure, accessible data. The session will demonstrate how automated, data-driven approaches accelerate insights and decision-making for both small-molecule and macromolecule research.
Accelerating Innovation: Harnessing Technology in Life Sciences
From Biotech to TechBio: How Modern Labs Standardize, Integrate, and Scale
The modern lab is changing fast, from Biotech to TechBio. What does that mean for you?
It’s about connected instruments, structured data, and flexible digital workflows that evolve with new tech.
In our presentation, we’ll share how to:
- Standardize your data collection.
- Build integration-ready workflows.
- Implement sustainable, ROI-driven practices.
The low hanging fruit: How to make your lab more sustainable
Round Table: Using synthetic data for strengthening and supplementing clinical trial evidence
This roundtable will focus on learnings from a regulatory sandbox hosted by the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on the use of synthetic (artificial) data in the context of clinical trials of interventional medical products. The roundtable will commence with a brief introduction to the regulatory sandbox and two industry case studies, followed by emerging regulatory considerations. The roundtable will then open up for a general discussion on how adoption of synthetic data could be facilitated, special considerations when using synthetic data and other possible use cases.
Accelerating the Path to Sustainable Proteins through AI Automation
Novel device development for chemistry automation
Labman shares how its unique approach, in close partnership with customers, has driven the creation of novel hardware technologies to advance automated chemistry. By engaging from early concept through to implementation, Labman will demonstrate several use cases where it has developed bespoke automation modules, through close customer collaboration, to solve real-world challenges in chemistry and advance efficiency, flexibility and innovation across research and industrial environments.
Building secure open-source data infrastructure for cross-organisational digital twins
Developing GSKs Carbon Neutral lab
Beyond Integration: Achieving Data Continuity Across LIMS, ELN, and Agentic AI
AI is transforming the laboratory, but its impact is often limited by a 'connector trap', where point-to-point integrations move data but fail to harmonize meaning. At LabVantage, we are moving beyond these fragile silos to ensure digital transformation delivers real ROI and long-term architectural stability. We bridge legacy systems, LIMS/ELN, and other enterprise platforms with the BioTech360 Semantic Continuity Layer. This semantic knowledge hub, powered by knowledge graphs and ontologies, harmonizes meaning between these disparate inputs and your critical outputs: Search, Reporting, Analytics, and AI. It enables a stable 'steady-state' architecture where data remains coherent and searchable without forced migrations.
The Rise of Robotic-Aided Research in Space: Scaling Automation Beyond Earth
Lab Transformation to AI at Scale by Operationalising the Next Phase of Scientific Innovation
This session explores how modern lab transformation playbook and the technical data foundations are required to deliver measurable business value in labs.
It outlines how harmonised scientific data models, FAIR-aligned metadata frameworks, and semantic architectures modernise data ingestion, contextualisation, and interoperability across instruments, LIMS, ELN, and analytics platforms.
Data foundations and data governance, improve data quality and lineage which reduce cycle times, and enable faster, more reliable decision-making at scale.By standardising how scientific data is captured, structured, and connected, organisations can unlock higher-value analytics and increase innovation throughput.
Participants will learn how these data foundations together with support of scalable Architecture and AIOps enable sustained productivity and operational resilience in lab environments.”
Break
Break
Round Table: ELN Implementation
Chair
Chair
Agile Automation: How to expand the application of existing tools outside of their intended purpose
Automation at AstraZeneca has evolved beyond its original High Throughput Screening purpose to support a broader range of scientific assays. By adopting an agile and collaborative approach, we have successfully repurposed: existing automation platforms to accelerate projects, maximizing laboratory footprint, and reducing the need for future capital investment.
We will look at a practical case study that demonstrates how leveraging internal automation expertise and cross-functional teamwork enabled the end-to-end automation of biocatalysis workflows. We showcase how enzyme-driven drug compound synthesis can be delivered in a quicker, more sustainable and cost-effective way.
The session will also address the key challenges we encountered and explore the future opportunities for scalable, flexible automation solutions across the organization
From operational to cognitive automation: Empowering human talent with Agentic AI in the Intelligent Lab
WithAgentic AI,technology is no longer limited to automating operational tasks but moves into the core of cognitive work.
From the analysis of large volumes of data to the automation of complex operations based on human instructions, AI integrated into laboratory processes is transforming the way people work, freeing up time and enhancing human talent.
In thissession, we will presentEusoftIAGO, our Agentic AI solution integrated intoEusoft.LabSaaS LIMS or available as a standalone solution to support laboratories indigitalization.
Sign up and discover how to amplify the human potential of your laboratorywith Agentic AI.
Panel: Where innovation meets responsibility: Creating a culture of sustainability in the lab
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What is the culture of sustainability in the labs?
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What are some of the barriers?
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How are you and your labs part of a big sustainability picture?
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What’sbeen the most exciting sustainability breakthrough you’ve experienced in your lab’s journey?
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How can labs drive and lead change for the sustainability now and in the future?
AI-Driven Cyber-Physical Systems for Accelerated Medicines Manufacturing
AI-driven cyber-physical systems for accelerated medicines manufacturing integrate advanced modelling, optimisation, robotics and autonomous platforms with real-time data, prediction and control to transform how medicines are developed and produced. By combining AI, machine learning and digital twins within CMAC’s cyber-physical research infrastructure, end-to-end processes can be optimised, material use and waste reduced, and critical quality attributes assured earlier and more efficiently. These systems enable continuous, data-rich experimentation that speed process understanding, support Quality by Digital Design (QbDD), and deliver more sustainable, resilient and patient-centric manufacturing routes from molecule to finished product.
A Common Architecture for the Scientific Collaborative Ecosystem: Lab in an Automated Loop (LIAL)
Drug discovery's economics are well known: 10–15 years, >$2B per therapy, <10% clinical success. Incremental optimisation will not fix them, but what is new is that we can do something impactful about it. Three converging forces, maturing agentic AI, scalable lab automation, and modern data infrastructure, present a fundamentally new way of working.
This talk will discuss Lab in an Automated Loop (LIAL), GSK's architecture built on this convergence, how agents reason across experimental data, orchestrate workflows end-to-end, and learn every cycle. We'll cover the open framework, its six architectural pillars, and a predict-first, validate-smart paradigm that accelerates the path from hypothesis to medicine.
Utilising neutrons to look at properties from batteries and biologics to metals and milk
Round Table: The Future of Funding: What can the UKRI & Innovate UK roadmaps mean for innovation in your lab?
Regulatory considerations for the use of synthetic data for development of AI as a Medical Device
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is the UK regulator of medical products, including software and AI products that are intended for medical purposes. Over recent years there has been growing interest in the potential use of synthetic (artificial or generated) data for the development of AI medical products. This talk will provide an overview of the MHRA’s Expert Group Report on regulatory considerations for the use of synthetic data in the development of AI medical devices to serve as a guide for developers of such medical products, who may be exploring the use of synthetic data.
We’ve Automated the Lab. Now What?
Panel: Designing for the next decade- Ensuring research strategies and digital investments stand the test of time
- What are the key principles designed for setting up research and digital initiatives that are inherently sustainable long-term adaptable?
- How can we balance initial investment in digital tools with the need for long-term financial and technical sustainability?
- What strategies are most effective for ensuring enduring knowledge retention, accessibility, and discoverability of past research and digital assets?
- How can organisations effectively manage attitude, and behavioural shifts to successfully implement sustainable digital practices?
Streamlining Cold Storage and Sample Management in a Complex Organisation- A Case Study at the Francis Crick Institute
A Scalable Framework for the Intelligent Lab: Ready to Run Workcells to Fully Connected Labs
This session outlines a scalable framework for building an intelligent, future‑ready lab.Matthew Collierwill show how ready‑to‑run workcells like GoSimple® make it easy for any scientist, not just automation engineers, to start automating with confidence. He will explain how labs using Green Button Go can expand from these entry‑level systems to fully connected, integrated workflows as their needs grow. The session also touches on the evolution of automation and how emerging assistive AI features help simplify setup and supports reliable, people‑friendly lab operations.
NHSBT: Purified PBMCs
Chair
Break
Break
Round Table: Accelerating Discovery: How Space-Based R&D Reduces Late-Stage Attrition in Biologics
Chair
Chair
From Fragmented Experiments to Intelligent Labs: Building the Operating System for Biological Execution
Biology is becoming more automated and data-driven, but most labs still run on fragmented instruments, disconnected software, and manual workflows. In this talk, we will share how CCA Labs is designed to unify workflows, samples, telemetry, and execution into one structured system of record. By connecting experimental context with lab operations, CCA Labs helps make biological work more reproducible, traceable, and automation-ready. We will explore why the future of intelligent labs depends not just on smarter devices, but on a shared operational layer for biological execution.
Empowering Scientific Discovery with AI, Data Analytics and Trust
Sustainability at Scottish Water - Unlocking Circularity in the Water Testing Lab
Scottish Water has set ambitious sustainability targets across its operations, with a growing focus on reducing waste and supporting a circular economy. In this session, Karen will share how Scottish Water tackled a significant plastic challenge within its laboratory operations. Traditionally, water testing and microbiolgical plastics were autoclaved and sent for disposal. By embracing innovation, Scottish Water has been able to divert these materials from disposal and instead enable recycling, turning a problematic waste stream into a circular resource. Karen will discuss the drivers behind the project, how the solution was implemented, and the operational benefits achieved, including reduced manual handling, while highlighting lessons that other organisations can apply to their own plastic waste challenges.
Sponsored by Envetec
REEactor: Accelerating Rare Earth Separation through Automated Ligand Discovery
This talk will introduce REEactor, a deep-tech platform focused on sustainable separation of rare earth elements using automated ligand discovery. By combining ultra-miniaturized synthesis, high-throughput screening, and data-driven optimization, the platform enables rapid identification of highly selective ligands for complex metal mixtures. The approach aims to reduce environmental impact, improve process efficiency, and strengthen resilient supply chains for critical raw materials. The session will highlight technological principles, early proof-of-concept results, and commercialization pathways including partnerships with mining, recycling, and specialty chemical industries.
Chair
Real-World Use Cases Delivering Scientific Impact Today
Distributed Intelligence in Embodied Self-Driving Laboratories
Chemical laboratories operate in environments where not every reaction pathway, event, or property such as solubility or stability can be anticipated in advance. This talk on“Distributed Intelligence in Embodied Self Driving Laboratories” argues that this intrinsic complexity limits the effectiveness of monolithic, highly complex AI systems. Inspired by biological organization, we propose distributing intelligence and autonomy across laboratory equipment, enabling local and context aware decision making. Drawing on theSwiss Cat+ West Hub, higher level algorithms act as an “upper brain,” providing strategic orientation, selecting reactions, and defining new experimental conditions while the lab itself remains adaptive and responsive.
The ELN Quest: What We Discovered on the Road to Implementation
This talkexplores the key lessons learned from the University of Southampton’s successful Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) trial within the School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering. Driven by the growing need for better data management, FAIR principles, and modern digital workflows, our trial revealed that thoughtful planning, user‑centred design, and cross‑stakeholder engagement were critical to adoption. We highlight practical insights into overcoming cultural resistance, aligning tools with real research practices, and enabling long‑term sustainability through data exit strategies. These lessons extend well beyond chemistry and the HEI sector, offering valuable guidance for ELN implementation across diverse disciplines and institutions.
Developing sustainable and nutritious alternative protein
An AI Driven Future Lab for Drug Formulation, Development and Manufacturing
Persist AI is building an autonomous cloud laboratory that combines AI-driven formulation design with robotic execution. Scientists design experiments remotely while our platform predicts optimal formulations, executes high-throughput screening, and iterates in real-time. This talk will explore how AI and automation are transforming drug product development—reducing timelines from months to weeks while enabling formulation scientists to focus on strategy rather than manual experimentation.
Panel: Self-driving labs in the UK: Where AI, automation, and science converge
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What constitutes a "Self-Driving Lab" in 2025, and how close is the UK to achieving true autonomy in its scientific research?
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As we move past the ‘experimental’ phase with SDL. What does the ultimate capability look like for a UK-based Self-Driving Lab, and how do we move closer to that vision
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Provide specific instance where in-silico was a game-changer for a project?
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How are leading vendors currently evolving to facilitate the ‘AI-ready’ lab, and what specific tools/or products can we hope for in the future?
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How should we redefine the relationship between academic labs, industry giants, and hardware partners to foster 'pre-competitive' collaboration that benefit the entire ecosystem?
Spatial Atomic Layer Deposition - Vacuum free thin film deposition, as a easy as printing ink onto paper
NanoPrint Innovations Limited is a pioneering startup developing and manufacturing advanced thin-film deposition equipment. They specialise in the development of Spatial Atomic Layer Deposition (SALD) equipment. This deposition technology maintains the same thickness control and quality as conventional ALD without the necessity for vacuum. The greatly reduced deposition time makes the technology suitable for in-line production and rapid R&D endeavours.
In this session we will summarise the current state of art of the field and give a general overview of suitable applications of the technology. We will then further focus on case studies for the photovoltaic and barrier coating sectors
Smart Monitoring. Sustainable Labs.
Marius has more than 15 years of experience in business development across software, medical technology, and regulated industries. His work has centered on supporting organizations operating in controlled and compliance-driven environments.
He has worked with stakeholders in life sciences, pharmaceutical manufacturing, laboratory operations, healthcare, and cold chain logistics. His focus has included environmental monitoring, temperature and humidity control, and the practical challenges of maintaining compliance in GMP- and GDP-regulated settings.
Marius has held international roles, including several years in Asia, where he worked with local teams and partners on market development and customer engagement.
Round Table: We've built it, now, how do we get them to come?
The Fastest Learning Labs Will Define the Future
For decades, laboratories have competed on scale: more automation, more throughput, more data. But the next era of science will not be defined by how much we run. It will be defined by how intelligently we learn. In complex, nonlinear biological systems, experimentation is a sequential decision process under uncertainty; yet most designs remain static and intuition-led. The future of AI in the lab is not better analytics after the fact, but systems that actively design experiments to maximise information. The labs that transform the world won’t be those with the biggest datasets — but those with the fastest learning curves.
Combining human and machine intelligence to discover the next generation of therapeutic antibodies
The Role of Central Labs in the Future of Blood Testing from Home
A Second Life for Science: How UniGreenScheme Is Redefining Sustainability Through Lab Asset Resale
UniGreenScheme began with a simple idea - what if surplus laboratory equipment didn’t have to become waste? A decade on, that idea has grown into an international mission redefining sustainability and promoting circular economy in science. UniGreenScheme's founder shares the story behind its innovative resale model and the measurable impact it’s having across academia, pharma,government and industry. Attendees will discover how giving equipment a second life can cut carbon, free budgets, support ESG reporting, and simplify their lab operations. You’ll leave with practical insights into how UniGreenScheme's asset resale service can help your organisation build a more sustainable, efficient, and resilient scientific environment.
Exhibition Drinks
Exhibition Drinks
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Day 2 Opening Remarks
Building British AI Infrastructure through Policy
Keynote Panel: Leading the charge: Navigating change management in the age of AI and digitalisation
- What are the top-performing AI and tech tools, and examples of how they are currently reshaping your labs?
- How can organisations overcome resistance and bring employees along on the transformation journey?
- What budgeting, training, and infrastructure investments should be anticipated for success?
- How can collaborations between teams, departments, and external partners drive faster, more effective adoption of AI and digital tools?
Break
Break
Round Table: Turning Instrumental Challenges into Automation Excellence
Designed for laboratory managers, this expert-led round table brings together specialists from IS‑Instruments, Hamilton Storage, Novilytic, and Binary Vision, hosted byTony Collins, Joint Head of GAMBICA’s Laboratory Technology Group.
Discover how labs aresuccessfully implementing automationto improve efficiency, reliability, and scalability. Using real-world case studies, we’ll explore common automation challenges, costly pitfalls to avoid, and practical decision-making across instrumentation, software integration, sample handling, and storage—helping you make confident, future-ready investments for your lab.
Chair
Chair
Chair
The role of academic-industry collaboration in ensuring safe, ethical, and effective digital transformation
Net Zero for Innovation & Innovation for Net Zero
Invisible Drag: Why labs lose a full day of science every week — and what’s actually causing it
Somewhere in your lab, a scientist with a PhD is chasing a supplier. An equipment maintenance contract has lapsed — and nobody noticed. Harvard Business Review found that 41% of skilled workers' time is lost to low-value tasks. This is Invisible Drag: the force every lab feels but rarely names.
Caroline Briggsspent three decades diagnosing it — from the bench to global pharma operations — and built the system to remove it.
In 20 minutes, she'll show why the labs winning aren't necessarily those with the biggest AI budgets. The backbone comes before the breakthrough.
Which future are you deliberately building?
Chair
Fireside chat: Bridging the argi academic and industry gap with collaborations
The Concrete Truth: The Unloved Foundations of Success
From lab vocab to recipes and ontologies, laying the groundwork for operational scale
Everyone wants intelligent labs, connected plants, and AI‑ready knowledge. Almost no one wants to do the groundwork. This talk focuses on the unloved foundations that make scale possible: controlled vocabularies in the lab, their translation into plant recipes and ontologies, and the governance needed to enable that intent. Using real examples from CMC, it shows how the decisions that feel unglamorous, semantics, ownership and data management, become the load‑bearing footings of scale out and AI success. Because when models fail, the foundations are under scrutiny, and by the time you notice, it’s already expensive to fix.
High-Rise Lab Developments
Pipettes and ping-pong tables: The truth about lean biotech
Increase your research impact through interdisciplinary collaboration
I run a biophysics research group exploring the structure, function and dynamics of proteostatic processes, mechanisms by which our cells regulate their crowded interiors. This involves many symbiotic collaborations with people all over the world who bring complementary expertise, both in scientific skills, and less obviously pertinent talents in arts and social science. Here I will share what I have learned about promoting and maximising impact and engagement in nearly thirty years of scientific research, including how to make contacts, engage with media and public, and work well with your press office
Paperless by Design: Track Every Sample, Stage, and Next Action
Laboratories face increasing pressure to manage more samples and data under stricter regulatory oversight, while delivering results faster and with full traceability. This presentation shows how modern digital lab systems simplify daily work by reducing manual effort and embedding compliance into routine operations. Using a real‑life example, we demonstrate how automated data capture for multiple sample measurements at the point of work creates a seamless, sample‑centric workflow. Eliminating manual steps and paperwork increases speed and transparency, enabling faster, more confident decision‑making and helping laboratories stay competitive while remaining responsive to customer needs.
Safeguarding Laboratories with Digital Gas Detection
Laboratories present a wide range of gas risks, from pharmaceutical environments to cryogenic suites, and from single room labs to large medical complexes. This session explores how digital gas detection safeguards these spaces. We will examine how Sentinel+ provides a scalable, adaptable solution that evolves with changing lab requirements, simplifying installation and maintenance while delivering clear, reliable data. We will also cover how GasNet enables remote monitoring and improved system visibility, alongside the role of portable gas detection in personal safety. Together, these technologies ensure laboratories remain compliant, efficient and, most importantly, safe.
From SOPs to AI Agents: Turning Laboratory Knowledge into Decision Systems
Laboratories run on a combination of formal procedures and practical experience built over years of daily work. However, much of this knowledge remains locked inside SOP documents or individual expertise. This talk explores how emerging AI tools can transform laboratory procedures into active digital assistants. By training AI agents on SOPs, historical lab data, and troubleshooting workflows, laboratories can support faster decision-making, improve knowledge accessibility, and enhance operational efficiency. Drawing from hands-on experience inside a production laboratory, this session will discuss how practical AI applications can begin augmenting everyday laboratory operations across industries.
Round Table: After Implementation comes Interoperability. How to link your ELN to other systems
Achieving True Collaboration: Designing Scientific Workflows That Actually Work
- How can end to end workflow understanding drive more intuitive and connected lab experiences?
- What shifts when organisations move from system centric UX to workflow centric design, and how does this unlock true collaboration across teams and platforms?
- What prevents digital tools from being adopted, and how can solutions better reflect the realities of day to day scientific work?
Lessons from Building an AI-Ready Data Platform for Target Discovery
The exponential growth of functional genomics data in drug discovery presents a formidable challenge: how to effectively derive decision-making insights from complex biological readouts across diverse assays and modalities. We addressed this by developing SIPhONN—Standardised Integration of Phenomics Outputs at Novo Nordisk—an end-to-end data platform designed for high-throughput cell-based screens.
In this talk, I will relay three lessons learned from building SIPhONN: 1) How FAIR-by-design guarantees compliance while making user adoption feel effortless, 2) how trustworthy data brings confident decision-making, and 3) how frictionless access unlocks measurable value, including use cases for machine learning.
The benchmark holistic lab building sustainable tool
Large language models for life cycle assessment
We are developing software at the University of Nottingham, which we call AI_LCA, to facilitate the early-stage scale-up of lab-scale reactions and generating LCAs using Large Language Models (LLMs). AI_LCA enables chemist to bridge the communication gap with engineers and LCA practitioners. The software leverages the natural language capabilities of LLMs to generate information relevant to transforming lab reactions into accessible and actionable insights. Through a user-friendly online platform, chemists can input lab-scale reactions and novel chemicals to generate LCAs and scale-up reports, promoting informed decision-making in sustainable product development.
Partnerships for Precision Medicine: Genomics England's National Clinical & Research Platform
The SynBio Data Tax is what happens when you engineer biology without version control
Synthetic biology is now a complex, iterative engineering discipline—but it is still run without version control.As a result, organisations pay a hiddenSynBio Data Tax: repeated experiments, weeks spent reconstructing strain lineage, frozen biological assets, unprovable IP ownership, and R&D data that cannot be trusted or reused. These failures are not cultural or behavioural—they are infrastructural. Drawing on lessons from software engineering and recent work on biological version control, it shows why lineage and provenance must be first‑class data objects in SynBio, and how linking physical strains to versioned digital histories is the only way to make engineered biology reproducible, governable, and AI‑ready.
The Imperial Incubator – How are spaces have shaped Science Spin-outs and Scale ups since 2006
This session looks at what companies need but also the design of the various sites and the learning from each ones that have informed the later designs. The critical change of introducing a shared lab – by the bench offer and what our future looks like in terms of supported Incubation over the next 20 years.
Break
Break
Round Table: Nanotechnology in sustainable development
Chair
London’s Space Enterprise Lab in IDEALondon: designed for collaboration. Free to access to fast-track new space enabled projects and partnerships
Space Enterprise Labs (SELs) from the Satellite Applications Catapult help industry, academia and government across the UK work together to develop and use space data and technology. The Labs bring businesses, researchers and public organisations into shared hubs where ideas can be tested and turned into real projects. SELs arefree to access and help fast‑track new space‑enabled projects and partnerships. In this presentation, you’ll hear more about who the Satellite Applications Catapult is, what the SELs offer, and how you can use them to connect with your local space community and cluster.
Chair
Chair
Overcoming Research Delays: Optimising Collaboration Across Academia, Health Systems, and Industry
This session explores why promising research papers often stall or delay before publication or impact. It examines common barriers across academia, health systems, and industry labs—such as misaligned incentives, data silos, regulatory complexity, and communication gaps. The talk will highlight practical strategies to streamline collaboration, including clearer governance models, shared objectives, early stakeholder engagement, and better project management practices. Drawing on real-world examples, it will outline how cross-sector partnerships can move from fragmented efforts to coordinated, outcome-driven research. Attendees will gain actionable insights to accelerate research translation, improve efficiency, and ensure innovations reach patients and practice faster.
How to eat an elephant: A FAIR implementation strategy
From Facility to Strategy: Showcasing Collaborative Facility Management and Leading Technical Mentorship
Lab Ops UK – Creating a knowledge base and networking opportunities for Lab Ops professionals across the UK
Borderless collaboration: The future of work with VR and multilingual AI assistant
Panel: FAIR in Action: From Principles to Practice
- How is FAIR being applied in real-world use cases?
- What are the organisational, regulatory, and innovation incentives behind adopting FAIR strategies?
- How is FAIR a part of a broader data product journey and data economics?
- How can we make data products both machine-readable and context-rich?
- What’s the role of human context in FAIR implementation?
Panel: Lab-to-Launch: Navigating UK's Facilities Landscape
- How can accelerators/incubators and beyond effectively support a startup?
- What are the most flexible and cost-effective facility models for a startup post-accelerator?
- What are the biggest operational challenges for a startup moving from 5 people in an incubator to 50 people in a dedicated space, and how can facilities/funding ease this transition?
How laboratories can demonstrate value, resilience, and impact through quality and not just compliance
The Resilient Laboratory: Why psychological wellbeing is the foundation for a safe and efficient lab
One-in-four of us are affected by a mental health or neurological problem in our lifetimes, with 70% predicted to experience a significant trauma. Those working in high-pressure and risk environments (such as labs) are more at risk, and there are more significant consequences if wellbeing issues negatively impact on their work. Psychologically healthy and well-supported staff in trauma-informed and trauma-ready environments are safer, more efficient, more effective, stay longer and are thus better for lab sustainability.This talk will explore key issues and practical approaches to creating safer, more efficient and more resilient labs through psychological wellbeing.
Before the lab comes the supply chain: the influence of the supply chain on lab operations
Closing Panel: Building the next-gen lab force: how women are shaping diversity, skills, and leadership in the lab and beyond
- What strategies are essential for building diverse teams advancing the lab of the future?
- How can we close the skill gaps in data science and automation for women entering the lab workforce?
- What is the role of mentorship and high-visibility female leaders in inspiring the next generation of women scientists and engineers?
Closing Panel: How to build a winning innovation strategy? Lessons from Global Titans and Agile Start-ups
- What is the biggest obstacle preventing effective collaboration between large companies and small start-ups and how to overcome this?
- What are the most successful models (e.g., acquisitions, joint ventures, accelerator programs) for an established company to 'buy' or 'borrow' start-up agility?
- What is the one non-negotiable principle that defines your innovation strategy?
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