This document summarizes a webinar on using electronic laboratory notebooks (eLNs). The webinar featured a presentation by Dr. Ulrich Dirnagl on his experience using eLNs to make research teams more efficient. He believes paper notebooks are outdated and that eLNs can help address the reproducibility crisis in research. The webinar covered the benefits of eLNs like collaboration, data sharing, and compliance with regulations. It also reviewed different types of eLNs and pricing models. While implementation challenges exist, eLNs were found to improve oversight, record keeping, and transparency if selected and supported properly.

1. Digital Scholar
Webinar
January 10, 2018
Hosted by the Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute (SC CTSI)
University of Southern California (USC) and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA)

2. Katja Reuter, PhD,
Director of the Digital
Scholar Program
About Today’s Session
 Project management
 Team management

3. Electronic Laboratory Notebooks (eLNs)

4. Today’s Learning Objectives
 Describe the potential and strengths of using electronic Laboratory
Notebook (eLN) solutions
 Identify different types of eLNs
 Describe basic features of eLN and how they are used
 Describe potential weaknesses of using eLNs and how to address them

5. Ulrich Dirnagl, MD
Today’s Speaker
Topic: Using electronic Laboratory Notebooks in the
academic life sciences: a group leader's experience on
how they can make research teams more efficient
Speaker: Ulrich Dirnagl, MD, Director, Department of
Experimental Neurology, Charité Universitätsmedizin
Berlin, Germany, and Founding Director, QUEST, BIH
Center for Transforming Biomedical Research, Berlin
Institute of Health, Germany

6. Questions: Please use the Q&A Feature
1. Click on the tab here to
access Q&A
2. Ask and post question here
1
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7. USING ELECTRONIC LABORATORY NOTEBOOKS IN THE
ACADEMIC LIFE SCIENCES:
A GROUP LEADER'S EXPERIENCE ON HOW THEY CAN MAKE RESEARCH TEAMS
MORE EFFICIENT
Ulrich Dirnagl
University of Southern California 1/10/2018

8. I strongly believe that paper laboratory notebooks are no longer state of
the art.
There are a number of competitors offering high quality ELNs (Benchhive,
LabCollector, SciNote, Labfolder …. For an extensive but still incomplete
list see
https://www.labsexplorer.com/c/2017-review-of-best-electronic-
laboratory-notebooks_6 )
Labfolder is a startup founded by scientists in the Berlin area.
I do not own any shares or do not receive any royalties or benefits from
Labfolder. I just happen to have extensive experience with it.
Disclaimer / Conflict of interest statement

9. Reproducibility crisis?

10. “85% of health research is wasted.”
Perrin S (2014) Nature 407:423-425

11. Mid 19th century 2015
A paper laboratory notebook is an atavism!

12. Electronic laboratory notebooks – a pocket guide
https://f1000research.com/articles/5-2/v1

13. Surveys
Score
1=leastrelevant
5=mostrelevant
4,75 - 5,00
4,50 - 4,75
4,25 - 4,50
4,00 - 4,25
3,75 - 4,00
3,50 - 3,75
3,25 - 3,50
3,00 - 3,25
2,75 - 3,00
2,50 - 2,75
2,25 - 2,50
2,00 - 2,50
1,75 - 2,00
1,50 - 1,75
1,25 - 1,50
1,00 - 1,25
GroupLeader
Labmanager
Postdoc
PhDStudent
Technicalpersonnel
Undergraduate
ELN naive (n) 4 1 12 13 10 10
ELN user (n) 2 4 5 3 7 1
Sharing notes and data (naive)
Sharing notes and data (before test)
Sharing notes and data (after test)
Following progress (naive)
Following progress (before test)
Following progress (after test)
Intuitive interface (naive)
Intuitive interface (before test)
Intuitive interface (after test)
Use of mobile devices (naive)
Use of mobile devices (before test)
Use of mobile devices (after test)
Use of templates (naive)
Use of templates (before test)
Use of templates (after test)
Personal support (naive)
Personal support (before test)
Personal support (after test)
Saving time (naive)
Saving time (before test)
Saving time (after test)
Better structuring (naive)
Better structuring (before test)
Better structuring (after test)
Integration of digital content (naive)
Integration of digital content (before test)
Integration of digital content (after test)
Annotation and freehand drawing (naive)
Annotation and freehand drawing (before test)
Annotation and freehand drawing (after test)
GroupLeader
Labmanager
Postdoc
PhDstudentent
undergraduate
student
Technical
Assistant
n naive 22 9 39 47 8 34
n ELN user 3 8 16 7 2 6
share notes and data (naive)
share notes and data (ELN user)
follow progress (naive)
follow progress (ELN user)
intuitive interface (naive)
intuitive interface (ELN user)
mobile devices (naive)
mobile devices (ELN user)
templates (naive)
templates (ELN user)
personal support (naive)
personal support (ELN user)
save time (naive)
save time (ELN user)
better structuring (naive)
better structuring (ELN user)
integration of digital content (naive)
integration of digital content (ELN user)
annotation and freehand drawing
(naive)
annotation and freehand drawing (ELN
user)
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
https://f1000research.com/articles/5-2/v1

15. * Minimum
requirement
for a state of
the art eLN
Feature Paper LN Generic,
electronic
documentation
system (Word,
EverNote, …)
ELNs,
(iLabber,
Labfolder,
eCat…)
High-End
ELNs
(LIMS)
Digital documentation (Text, graphics)* -   
Digital documentaion (Free hand drawing)* - ()  
Text search* -   
Searching projects* -   
Exchange of data* -   
Management of users, logging of entries, time stamp,
audit trail*
() manually -  
21CFR11 Compliance* - -  
Management of inventories (e.g. probes, chemicals) - - () 
Workflows (tasks, experiments) - - () 
Device integration (e.g. scales, readers, microscopes) - - () 
Analysis of raw data - - 
Cost low low Intermed. high
Horses for courses – different types of LNs

16. Electronic laboratory notebook

17. 90 sec tour
Get a quick overview of
the basic features.
Teamwork
See how teams can
discuss data and share
knowledge.
Word and Excel
import
See how we support
the most generic
formats used in
research.
Manage a team
Watch the team
management and
organization tool in
action.
Watch more of videos on Labfolder’s YouTube channel.
Video tours

18. All data in one place

19. All data in one place

20. Tag data, search data, projects, people….

21. Use of templates

22. Use of templates

23. 23
History of each entry

24. 24
Export, sign, witness, history, hide…..

25. Work together in teams

26. Work together in teams: Comment

27. Admins, rights, permissions….

28. Dashboard: Messages, tasks, comment, to do lists…

29. Use of apps to share data beyond the ELN, export to XHTML…

30. Manage materials

31. Communication &
Teamwork
Tasks & notifications for
working together better.
QM & Compliance
Integrated features for
simplified compliance in ISO,
GxP and others.
Backups & Archiving
central server for central
management.
Roles & Access
Rights & roles and access
integrated.
Document management
Popular formats and digital
signatures are supported.
Inventory & Samples
Integrated materials
management.
Many solutions in one platform

32. Implementation support
● Onboarding of group
leaders and
scientists.
● Continuous training
of (new) scientists
and students.
Installation
& update support
● Supported
installation and
regular updates.
● Technical IT support
above the operating
system.
Integration
support
● Supported API
integration of in-
house solutions for
linking, long-term
archiving,
publication, etc.
User
support
● In-tool ticket system.
● Telephone and email
support for
scientists.
Company support

33. GLP
(OECD Guidelines on good laboratory practice)
GLP
requirement
Labfolder
Feature
Compliance
Access control Login, project access
rights
Full audit trail History function
Digital
signatures
Signing and witnessing
Daily backups Provided by labfolder
Data center
protected
Provided by data center
✔
✔
✔
✔
✔
CFR 21 Part 11
(FDA guidelines for digital signatures)
Requirement Labfolder
Feature
Compliance
Signature
(biometric /
credentials)
Signing and witnessing
Document
integrity
Audit Trail, Controlled
deletion, Hash sum
Access
management
Login, author control,
access rights
management
✔
✔
✔
Compliant to regulated environments

34. EXTENDED EDITION (PREMIUM)
Groups > 3 and additional group features
Industry Academia
Cloud 39€ /user/ month 15€ /user/ month
Server
39€ /user/ month
+ 5.000€ one-off
installation fee
15€ /user/ month
+ 2.500€ one-off
installation fee
FREE TRIAL
Teams with up
to 3 members.
EXTENDED EDITION FOR LARGE ACCOUNTS /
CAMPUSES
For organizations with >500 users
✔ One solution for the entire organization.
✔ No user limit, billing for active users only.
✔ Individual account management and
support.
INTEGRATE
Partner with
labfolder to
develop and
monetize new
features or
connect own
solutions.
Pricing models (example)

35. Horses for courses – different types of LNs
Feature Paper LN Generic,
electronic
documentation
system (Word,
EverNote, …)
ELNs,
(iLabber,
Labfolder,
eCat…)
High-End
ELNs
(LIMS)
Digital documentation (Text, graphics)* -   
Digital documentaion (Free hand drawing)* - ()  
Text search* -   
Searching projects* -   
Exchange of data* -   
Management of users, logging of entries, time stamp,
audit trail*
() manually -  
21CFR11 Compliance* - -  
Management of inventories (e.g. probes, chemicals) - - () 
Workflows (tasks, experiments) - - () 
Linking instruments (e.g. scales, readers, microscopes) - - () 
Analysis of raw data - - 
Cost low low Intermed. high
Do not meet minimum
requirements
(time stamping,
copy/deletion protection,
user management, 21 CFR
11, etc.)
Too expensive, too
many features, too
complex, not user
friendly

37. Challenges
• More expensive than paper LN
• Integration within institutional IT
• Administration, user support day to day
• Local (group) vs institutional solution
• Cloud vs institutional server
• Device integration
• Regulatory issues (GSP, Unions)
• Parallel solutions (paper + eLN)

38. The future (?)
• eLN fully integrated into data collection, collaboration, data dissemination
• Integration with open data [transparency]
• Publication from within eLN [data journals]
• Integration into structured QM Systems
• Auditing (internal/external) [trust]

39. Take home
• After an initial training phase users are very happy and don‘t want to
change back to paper
• Most popular novel features: Collaboration, data storage, templates,
accessibility from any computer, Pis: oversight, record keeping, GSP
• Start with pilot, select group that is motivated
• Try to implement solution from one provider
• Take concerns of potential users seriously (data security, sharing of
data…) - do not enforce implementation
• Secure support of institutional IT
• Provide good support (in particular onboarding)

40. Q u e s t i o n s
Program director: Katja Reuter, PhD
Email: katja.reuter@usc.edu
Twitter: @dmsci
Next Digital Scholar Webinar
I n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t
t h e p r o g r a m
http://sc-ctsi.org/digital-scholar/
Date & Time: Feb 7, 2018 | 12-1PM PST
Topic: Using alternative scholarly metrics to showcase the impact
of your research: An introduction for researchers
Speaker: Caroline Muglia, MS, Co-Associate Dean for Collections
and Technical Services at University of Southern California
Register at: http://bit.ly/2CLAx5C