What is the idea behind Labfolder?
Labfolder is a digital platform where scientists can capture, validate, collect, and also connect all the data and data sources in the laboratory. In most laboratories, scientists still use paper-based lab books. Labfolder transforms these labs into the laboratories of the future, where everything is digital and connected. The idea is that science will be better, more transparent, more reproducible, and more successful if the lab goes digital.
When did you start working on Labfolder?
I started working on Labfolder together with my co-founder Simon Bungers in 2011. It all started with writing a grant for the EXIST fellowship from the German government which awarded us 100.000 EUR to start. We started building the first prototype in 2012 and founded the company in autumn 2013.
You came directly from working in a lab and created Labfolder. What is your background?
My background is molecular biology and biophysics. I had done electron microscopy before I started with Labfolder; it is a discipline which is very data-heavy.
STAYING IN ACADEMIC RESEARCH IS AS RISKY AS FOUNDING A STARTUP
How did you get into this field? Why did you decide not to follow research?
It was curiosity. And then followed by possibility. My co-founder and I were curious to see what it would look like to have our own company. When we got the possibility to do it, we grabbed it immediately. We were often asked if this was not very risky, but our statement is that staying in academic research is equally risky. There is actually no difference whether you want to pursue the academic path, go to the industry or build a startup.
Did you have any training which prepared you for your adventure?
We had to learn everything right in the moment: how to do tax declarations, set up contracts, register a company, and so forth. Luckily, we were embedded in a network from the FU Berlin, which came with our funding. They gave us support in many ways. But I can tell you this: If you have done scientific lab work, then doing the bureaucratic efforts of founding a company is really not rocket science. For a scientist, I would say, it is not a big problem to figure out how to do all these things that are necessary to start and run a company.
What were the milestones in the development and growth of Labfolder?
Our
first important milestone was the release of the alpha version in 2012.
After only 3 months of development, we released the first very basic
prototype of Labfolder, which was already good enough to ignite the
interest of some users here at the Charité. More milestones were the
steps of publishing new features and available languages. Among the
milestones are also the partnerships that we made both with other
startups like Mendeley and investors, but also our agreement with the
Max Planck society, and very recently with the BIH to roll out Labfolder
here at the Charité and the MDC.
Who is using Labfolder already and how many customers do you have?
FOUNDING A COMPANY IS REALLY NOT ROCKET SCIENCE
Around 14.000 scientists are using Labfolder. Most are from Germany, but also from the rest of Europe, the US, and Asia. Our customers are 60% academic research laboratories, the others are companies. However, the number of customers does not necessarily reflect the number of users, as for example the Max Planck society is one customer with many users. We also have customers that are using Labfolder in analysis labs with routine testing.
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| Andrea Claes (l) and Florian Hauer (r) from Labfolder, Photo: Claudia Willmes |
How is Labfolder going to evolve in the coming years?
Very soon we will release a few features that will allow scientists to manage their data even better. One feature will allow you to control the experimental parameters in a more structured way, and run queries on your experimental data. Another feature will allow you to link all the material you are using by introducing a material database.
In the long run, we are interested in implementing all the features that allow scientists to get a better grip on their data and make more out of it. The promise of digitalization is not only to have everything digital, but to also do something with the data: To make connections that were there but were not visible before. In the age of big data, it is important to make it possible for scientists to easily store and access it.
What do you like the most about your job?
I like that I have to do something new every day. It never gets boring. There are no normal work days!
What are some of the challenges of your job?
Well, the challenges are also that there is something new every day. But I think it is the challenges that make us grow stronger. I would say that it is probably not the easiest of all jobs, but in our team we are all equally hungry for challenges and for the success that comes with mastering them.
Do you sometimes wish you would be doing experiments in a lab?
I actually still do lab work as a guest scientist! It is very important to me to stay connected to the laboratory and science. Of course, I do much less. I usually take 2 weeks holiday per year which I spend in the lab. I have never lost the connection to the lab and I also plan to keep that in the future.
IN TIMES OF BIG DATA IT'S IMPORTANT TO EASILY STORE AND ACCESS DATA
To what extent can Labfolder contribute to better “scientific practice” and data availability?
Labfolder makes it easier to follow the guidelines of good scientific practice, as it is just done automatically without you needing to do anything. Today the main problem of science is that the data are just not accessible to others. If you write up your thesis, you finish your lab notebook and put it on the shelf in your lab: And the data are practically gone! With Labfolder, we want to make sure that future generations of scientists and also the general public will be able to follow your experiments and make use of your data. What ends up in the paper is maybe 5% of the data you have generated, and the rest is lost. It is our mission to provide the technical possibility to share the data in an easy way, and not to share only the tip of the iceberg which is the paper, but also the hidden bottom. These data could be used by others to come to new conclusions and to combine different datasets in order to find new things. With the digital platform for scientific data, there are going to be a lot of possibilities to exchange data. Funding agencies such as the DFG want scientists to share their data, including the raw data. There is a trend to open science and we would like to offer a platform where this trend can become reality.
What about data security? Would it be possible to hack the Labfolder data?LABFOLDER IS AN IMPROVEMENT OF DATA SAFETY AND SECURITY
This is a very valid question, but there is no system in the world that is 100% safe. Your paper notebook is also not safe. If you look at large industrial companies that fell victim to espionage, the port of entry never has been the system, but a corrupted person. The risk to be attacked by a hacker is especially high if you have your data on your personal computer or unsecured hard drive. Having your data on Labfolder, where the communication is encrypted and data are stored behind a firewall means security is a lot higher. Also, the Labfolder servers regularly undergo scheduled backups. Even if your computer bursts into flames, your data is still safe in Labfolder. Compared to the many other ways of data storage, Labfolder is actually quiet an improvement of safety and security.
What can our readers do if they want to start using Labfolder?
Using Labfolder at the Charité is now possible! You are very much invited to contact us, either me or Andrea Claes. Andrea will help finding the right strategy to transition from paper based lab book to Labfolder to make it seamlessly easy to jump into the digital lab notebook.
Thank you very much for this interview, we are looking forward to the new features of Labfolder!
This interview was edited for length and clarity
Interview by Claudia Willmes, PhD Alumna AG Eickholt / AG Schmitz
This interview originally appeared June 2017 in CNS Volume 10 - Issue 2
You are very much invited to contact Andrea Claes,
Project & Account Manager, and contact partner for the BIH andrea.claes@labfolder.com
