How a Laboratory Resource Management Solution Streamlines In Vitro Bioassays

In vitro bioassays are essential tools in pharmaceutical R&D, toxicology testing, and academic research. Yet, despite their critical role in drug discovery and cell biology, many labs still struggle to manage the complexity of these assays using outdated tools or manual processes.

If you’re handling tasks like cell line thawing, seeding, passaging, compound treatment, incubation, and plate reading, you know that precision and timing are everything. That’s where a laboratory resource management solutionlike Optima LRMS® can support you and make all the difference.

In this article, we’ll walk through how Optima’s lab scheduling solution can transform your in vitro bioassay workflow—improving efficiency, ensuring reproducibility, and maximising resource utilisation.

Why In Vitro Bioassays demand smart automated scheduling

In vitro assays follow a tightly controlled sequence of steps, often spanning several day and weeks.

Each of these steps requires specific resources, and without effective coordination, delays and resource conflicts can keep the manager busy for quite some time. For this reason, more and more laboratories are opting for specialised lab resource management software to help them coordinate multiple bioassays and routine cell maintenance simultaneously.

Each phase of an in vitro bioassay is associated with strict timelines, resource dependencies and environmental requirements:

1. Cell line thawing requires coordination of access to cryogenic storage, biological safety cabinets, preparation of medium and materials, and availability of trained personnel.
2. Seeding and passages require precise timing ( mater of x number of days between passages depending on the cell line type and according to the validated protocol). Access to tissue culture hoods or even biosafety cabinets, incubators and media preparation stations is critical to perform those steps on time. The personnel would be assessing the cells density and decide how much to dilute it in order to reach next passage with the desire cell concentration.
3. Treatment and incubation require to synchronise drug delivery with the right number of passages, optimal cell concentration and with incubator availability. There might even be pre-treatment incubation to maintain the cells under specific conditions prior to drug exposure, requiring long-term monitoring of equipment utilisation.
4. Plate reading requires booking dedicated readers, data acquisition systems and data analysts within specific post-treatment windows.

Without integrated planning, these steps are prone to inefficiencies such as resource conflicts, idle time, missed timings and even failure of experiments.

How Optima LRMS® optimises In Vitro Bioassay workflows

Once the lab’s workflow is configured in Optima LRMS®, a simple request for the relevant activity is enough to schedule all the necessary steps from thawing to plate reading, while ensuring that a trained technician, cabinet, incubator and plate reader are available when necessary.

Whilst the technician’s agenda is blocked, the cabinet is booked at the same time, but is also released again as soon as the technician has completed his/her task. At the same, optima allows the incubator to be booked for the required number of days while the person is free to complete other tasks, write a report, participate in a peer review or simply enjoy time off and weekends.

With real-time availability and conflict detection, you can ensure that every resource is in place when you need it.

Timeline Coordination and Notifications
With features such as automatic notifications and Gantt chart-based views, Optima LRMS® ensures timely reminders and communication of information to supervisors and/or colleagues.

Optima LRMS® supports long-duration workflows by tracking upcoming milestones, such as scheduled cell passages or media changes, from the date of cells thawing.

Capacity and Workload Management
Optima provides an overview of the use of equipment and instruments as well as staff workload, thus preventing conflicts and bottlenecks in times of high demand.

For example, if several assays require cabinets, plate readers or incubators on the same day, Optima suggests alternative time slots.

Protocol-Based Scheduling Templates
Running the same bioassay multiple times? Optima lets you build standardised protocol templates that auto-schedule all steps based on a start date or any priority custom parameter you would prefer to trigger the scheduling.

Optima enables the creation of reusable planning templates that are linked to specific test protocols. For a given bioassay, a predefined sequence can be automatically applied each time, saving time and standardising procedures across the team.

Traceability and Audit Trails
Compliance with legal regulations is crucial for laboratory operations. Optima keeps detailed logs of the scheduled and executed tasks, including who performed them and when. This is particularly valuable for audits and quality assurance in GLP/GMP environments.

In addition to the Start date & time and Stop date & time stamps, comments can be added at each step of the workflow to facilitate communication within the team, track flawless execution and support decision making.

Real-Time Adjustments
Biological systems are variable by nature. With Optima LRMS®, supervisors can adjust the schedule in real time by simply dragging and dropping the task or assigning it to another person, for example.

Enhancing Collaboration Across Teams
In larger laboratories or multi-site organisations, collaboration is key. Optima LRMS® supports cross-functional coordination by providing a shared overview of upcoming experiments, reducing misunderstandings between staff, assay development teams and analytical scientists.

Optima LRMS®, Laboratory Resource Scheduling Solution, offers much more than just calendar management — it is an intelligent orchestration engine for complex laboratory workflows. By supporting the meticulous processes associated with in vitro bioassays — from thawing cell lines to reading plates — it enables laboratories to work more efficiently, reduce errors and increase reproducibility. For research teams striving for excellence in experimental design and execution, Optima is an indispensable partner in modern laboratory operations.

Real-World Benefits of Lab Resource Management Software

By implementing a laboratory resource management solution like Optima, research teams can expect:

✅ No scheduling conflicts
✅ Improved reproducibility
✅ Higher utilization of key equipment
✅ Streamlined team collaboration
✅ Compliance readiness

Start Managing Your Lab Resources the Smart Way
Whether you’re running routine cytotoxicity assays or complex high-content screens, efficient scheduling is the backbone of reliable science.

Optima helps laboratories:
Eliminate chaos from multi-day experiments
Optimize resource allocation
Deliver consistent, high-quality results

If you’re ready to modernise your in vitro bioassay workflow, it’s time to explore what the Optima laboratory resource management solution can do for your lab and your team.