Emerald Cloud Lab

Image courtesy of Emerald Cloud Lab

The term “cloud lab” was first coined by Stephen Wolfram and Brian Frezza in 2012 to describe the lab being built by Emerald Therapeutics. The term came into public use in 2014, with the introduction of Emerald Cloud Lab.

“Cloud lab” as a technical term was intended to be analogous to the cloud computing paradigm in the IT world. The IT community also initially struggled to define what exactly is meant by the term “cloud computing” and how it was fundamentally different from other technologies of its day. Over time, a set of criteria evolved to distinguish cloud computing from prior, incomplete technologies such as local data centers or rentable shared access data centers.

[Check out Part 1 of this feature on what constitutes a true cloud laboratory.]

The same is true of the term “cloud lab,” which is defined by five criteria:

Remote, on-demand experimen…

Image courtesy of Emerald Cloud Lab.

All scientists wish they could focus on designing experiments that answer their most burning questions about nature. Unfortunately, many spend most of their time simply ensuring their lab operates smoothly. To overcome this conundrum, engineers and computer scientists are seeking ways to allow these researchers to focus on the science and not all the logistics involved in experimenting.

Enter the cloud lab. A cloud lab is a semi-autonomous laboratory in which experiments run remotely – exactly as designed by a scientist, but without the need for constant attention from researchers. With an annual subscription that often costs less than a single laboratory instrument, scientists can ship in samples and then design, execute, analyze, interpret, visualize and report experiments using more than 200 unique pieces of instrumentation — without ever having to set foot in the lab.…

Image courtesy of Emerald Cloud Lab.

All scientists wish they could focus on designing experiments that answer their most burning questions about nature. Unfortunately, many spend most of their time simply ensuring their lab operates smoothly. To overcome this conundrum, engineers and computer scientists are seeking ways to allow these researchers to focus on the science and not all the logistics involved in experimenting.

Enter the cloud lab. A cloud lab is a semi-autonomous laboratory in which experiments run remotely – exactly as designed by a scientist, but without the need for constant attention from researchers. With an annual subscription that often costs less than a single laboratory instrument, scientists can ship in samples and then design, execute, analyze, interpret, visualize and report experiments using more than 200 unique pieces of instrumentation — without ever having to set foot in the lab.…