I Know There’s a Better Way: How CEO Bill Harten’s Vision Shaped a New View of LIMS

As a consultant to Myriad Genetics in 1997, I was tasked with building a laboratory tracking system for their protein interaction process. This was a highly complex system that included samples going through 70 steps and 35 different containers. As an experienced java programmer I used the tools I had acquired on previous projects and based the data model on genealogical principles I had learned while working as the Chief Architect of the largest genealogical database in the world. After six months of programming, consulting and testing, I delivered a system to Myriad that satisfied their rigorous requirements. The genealogical model worked very well in the laboratory world and they were very satisfied. However, I was troubled with the amount of time it took to build the system and knew that there had to be a better way.

The following year I was asked to build another system for Myriad. This one was similar in scope, but based on an entirely different type of science with different steps and tracking requirements. Rather than go back to the java programming used in the earlier system, I employed a new language that could significantly speed up the project. After several months of intense development effort (integrating ideas that I had developed over the previous 20 years), I was ready to implement the specific process requirements. With my new software tool set, I was able to build the second system for DNA sequencing in about a month, and another programmer used it to build a compound screening system in about a week. These were the original implementations of the concepts embodied in UNIFlow.

Since that time, the UNIFlow product has grown and expanded to meet the needs of many labs and organizations, and has withstood even the most rigorous challenges. As I look ahead to the challenges that come with increasingly ambitious biotechnology goals, I am confident that the progress we’ve made at UNIConnect has prepared us to meet these challenges. The next few years will be exciting as we expand the reach of UNIFlow into more and more organizations. It is a great time to be in the life science industry and I am thrilled that UNIConnect is contributing toward the advancement of scientific knowledge.

To contact Bill Harten, click here.