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Title: The Laboratories of Our Lives: Labs, Labs Everywhere!

Edition: Second edition

Author for citation: Shawn E. Douglas

License for content: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International

Publication date: July 2022

When asked to think about a laboratory and what it does, many people think of the clinical lab where their blood is drawn, or even the "mad scientist's" laboratory, with sundry bubbling vessels. But there is much more to the laboratory than blood and cauldrons. In fact, a laboratory appears in common and unexpected places in society, affecting practically everything in our lives. This guide takes a look at the laboratories that up-front—and more often, behind-the-scenes—intersect our lives on a daily basis. This guide includes laboratory history, an evaluative and contextual framework for understanding laboratories' roles in our lives, analysis of 20 different industry lab types, and closing discussion and remarks.

This second edition, among other things, updates a number of statistics, adds additional historical context since it was written, and reorganizes the structure to be more consistent with current LIMSwiki guides. The framework itself, found in Chapter 2, was also tweaked slightly to be more consistent and make the wording about the various divisions clearer. Additional background was added to some of the industries where relevant, including in the informatics sections. All references and resources in the guide were also refreshed for this update, including the addition of a link to an industry-specific category page of LIMS options for each industry.

The table of contents for The Laboratories of Our Lives: Labs, Labs Everywhere! is as follows:

1. Laboratories: A historical perspective

1.1 What is a laboratory?

1.1.1 Skilled, knowledgeable people

1.1.2 Facilities

1.1.3 Equipment and instrumentation

1.1.4 Consumables

1.1.5 Experiment/test data and its management

1.1.6 Summing it up

1.2 Origins of the laboratory

1.3 Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century laboratories

1.4 Modern laboratories and their importance

2. A framework for the laboratories of our lives

2.1 A proposed framework for organizing laboratories

3. Labs by industry: Part 1

3.1 Agriculture and forestry

3.1.1 Client types

3.1.2 Functions

3.1.3 Informatics in the agriculture and forestry industry

3.1.4 LIMSwiki resources and further reading

3.2 Automotive, aerospace, and marine

3.2.1 Client types

3.2.2 Functions

3.2.3 Informatics in the automotive, aerospace, and marine industry

3.2.4 LIMSwiki resources and further reading

3.3 Calibration and standards

3.3.1 Client types

3.3.2 Functions

3.3.3 Informatics in the calibration industry

3.3.4 LIMSwiki resources and further reading

3.4 Chemical

3.4.1 Client types

3.4.2 Functions

3.4.3 Informatics in the chemical industry

3.4.4 LIMSwiki resources and further reading

3.5 Clinical, public and private

3.5.1 Client types

3.5.2 Functions

3.5.3 Informatics in the clinical industry

3.5.4 LIMSwiki resources and further reading

4. Labs by industry: Part 2

4.1 Clinical and academic research

4.1.1 Client types

4.1.2 Functions

4.1.3 Informatics in the clinical and academic research industry

4.1.4 LIMSwiki resources further reading

4.2 Cosmetic

4.2.1 Client types

4.2.2 Functions

4.2.3 Informatics in the cosmetics industry

4.2.4 LIMSwiki resources and further reading

4.3 Energy

4.3.1 Client types

4.3.2 Functions

4.3.3 Informatics in the energy industry

4.3.4 LIMSwiki resources and further reading

4.4 Environmental

4.4.1 Client types

4.4.2 Functions

4.4.3 Informatics in the environmental industry

4.4.4 LIMSwiki resources and further reading

4.5 Food and beverage

4.5.1 Client types

4.5.2 Functions

4.5.3 Informatics in the food and beverage industry

4.5.4 LIMSwiki resources and further reading

5. Labs by industry: Part 3

5.1 Geology and mining

5.1.1 Client types

5.1.2 Functions

5.1.3 Informatics in the geology and mining industry

5.1.4 LIMSwiki resources and further reading

5.2 Law enforcement and forensics

5.2.1 Client types

5.2.2 Functions

5.2.3 Informatics in the law enforcement and forensics industry

5.2.4 LIMSwiki resources and further reading

5.3 Life sciences and biotechnology

5.3.1 Client types

5.3.2 Functions

5.3.3 Informatics in the life sciences and biotechnology industry

5.3.4 LIMSwiki resources and further reading

5.4 Logistics

5.4.1 Client types

5.4.2 Functions

5.4.3 Informatics in the logistics industry

5.4.4 LIMSwiki resources and further reading

5.5 Manufacturing and R&D

5.5.1 Client types

5.5.2 Functions

5.5.3 Informatics in the manufacturing and R&D industry

5.5.4 LIMSwiki resources and further reading

6. Labs by industry: Part 4

6.1 Nanotechnology

6.1.1 Client types

6.1.2 Functions

6.1.3 Informatics in the nanotechnology industry

6.1.4 LIMSwiki resources and further reading

6.2 Petrochemical and hydrocarbon

6.2.1 Client types

6.2.2 Functions

6.2.3 Informatics in the petrochemical and hydrocarbon industry

6.2.4 LIMSwiki resources and further reading

6.3 Pharmaceutical

6.3.1 Client types

6.3.2 Functions

6.3.3 Informatics in the pharmaceutical industry

6.3.4 LIMSwiki resources and further reading

6.4 Power and utility

6.4.1 Client types

6.4.2 Functions

6.4.3 Informatics in the power and utility industry

6.4.4 LIMSwiki resources and further reading

6.5 Veterinary

6.5.1 Client types

6.5.2 Functions

6.5.3 Informatics in the veterinary industry

6.5.4 LIMSwiki resources and further reading

7. Discussion and closing remarks

7.1 Discussion

7.2 Closing remarks