Episode 4 – LIMS systems with Tyler Pascoe & Matt Gruver, Thermo Fisher Scientific

In this episode of Drug Target Review’s podcast, sponsored by Thermo Fisher Scientific, Deputy Editor Victoria Rees speaks with Tyler Pascoe, Technical Sales Consultant at Thermo Fisher Scientific and Matt Gruver, Product Manager at Thermo Fisher Scientific about LIMS systems and the company’s upcoming Watson v7.7 release.

We begin by discussing what Watson LIMS is; Pascoe explained that the software is “specifically designed and built to support bioanalytical testing. When an organisation pursues the development of a new therapeutic, bioanalytical testing plays a critical role in that journey to seek regulatory approval.”

“As Watson LIMS is ever-evolving, our focus is to serve all bioanalytical testing customers – really empathising with the user personas that we support and what their daily challenges are, all while reacting to the regulatory landscape in which the majority of our customers operate,” said Gruver.

We also discussed how the Import Study Protocol feature and how the user interface and expanded capabilities will provide a more robust tool for importing sample metadata into study design.

“In Watson v7.7, the user interface has been updated to catch errors from within the Import file,” explained Pascoe. “It will also highlight conflicts within the existing design samples. This UI allows users to resolve errors with an integrated feature, which is also backed by audit trail records. So, for any error that cannot be immediately resolved, the user can opt to isolate the discrepant samples, allowing the valid records to be accepted into the study design. This helps to reduce any potential workflow bottlenecks.”

Gruver also explored some of the areas of focus for future Watson v7.7 releases. “Method validation will be our next near-term focus and that is true if you are talking about concentration measurement types of assays, like chromatographic or ligand-binding assays. In that case, we will be addressing any method validation gaps aligned to global ICHM10 guidance. For customers that are generating ADA endpoints and doing method validation for ADA assays, we will be aligned to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidance for industry.”

Make sure to keep an eye out for Drug Target Review’s next podcast, coming soon!