Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
In addition to its careful organization of space, materials, and people,
a fi nal unique feature of the Broad was its orientation toward control.
Keeping space, materials, and people in order means constant oversight.
Meredith described an example of what she called the Broad's sophis-
ticated sense of “operations.” A few months before we spoke, certain
sets of sequences had started to diminish in quality on the sequencing
machines, producing shorter read lengths than average. At many labs
such a problem would be (at worst) ignored or (at best) take months to
resolve, leaving the sequencing machines running at suboptimal capac-
ity. At the Broad, however, the monitoring was careful and sophisticated
enough that the problem could be quickly traced to a particular batch
of reagent from a particular outside supplier. The supplier was notifi ed
of the defects in the product and quickly supplied a new batch, and the
problem was resolved within a few days.
Such a feat could be achieved through the tracking and monitoring
of everything within the sequencing center. From the moment samples
enter the lab (and often before), they are given a two-dimensional bar-
code that links the contents of the sample to its record in the laboratory
database. As the sample moves through the lab, the barcode is scanned
at every step: each machine in the lab is fi tted with a barcode scanner
so that the database can keep track of when each sample is run through
that machine. Workers in the MBPG have scanners on their bench tops
so that samples passing through their workspace are scanned in and
out. Using the database, it would be possible to fi nd the exact loca-
tion of any given sample at any time; it would also be possible to fi nd
out which picking or sequencing machine it ran through, whose bench
tops it passed over (and how long it spent there), and which batches of
chemicals were used to treat it. All over the lab fl oor, large signs remind
workers, “Never remove a barcode from anything!” The barcoding sys-
tem is integral to the lab's ability to control its operations and monitor
its workfl ow.
Indeed, the barcoding system is just the front end of a more thorough-
going system of monitoring. That system goes by the names of quality
control (QC) and quality assurance (QA). As a QA project manager,
Beth was responsible for developing “Bills of Materials” (BoMs), de-
tailed lists of quantities of materials used for each step of the sequencing
process. By comparing the BoMs with sequence output, managers could
call workers to account for the quantities of materials they were using.
For instance, a Bill of Materials might allow 100 milliliters of ethanol
and three pairs of rubber gloves per megabase sequenced; signifi cant de-
viations from these quantities would quickly attract the attention of the
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