Informatics Platforms for Biologics R&D: 5 Key Capabilities to Look For

What to Look for in an
Informatics Platform for
Biologics R&D

Introduction
In silico molecular biology tools, electronic lab notebooks, and systems for registration,
sample management, workflow management, and request management form the
foundation of informatics for biologics R&D.
When building out their informatics, most R&D organizations evaluate these solutions
independently, by checking off a list of required features. This is a good starting point, but
what are you missing by not evaluating the platform capabilities of these solutions?
The informatics platform you adopt and develop over time is an important consideration
with serious consequences for both R&D and IT teams. It impacts the research
productivity of your scientists, the decisions you make as an R&D leader, your success
in bringing drugs to market — as well as the ability of IT to strategically support R&D and
ensure the longer-term relevance of your infrastructure.
The five critical platform capabilities to look for when evaluating an informatics platform
for biologics R&D are:
Purpose-Built for Biologics: Modeling complex entities and processes..........................4
Unified Data Infrastructure: Harnessing organization-wide data to accelerate R&D...8
Codeless Configuration: The benefits of custom, with the ease of off-the-shelf...........14
Open Integration: Not all APIs are created equal.....................................................................17
Easy Extensibility: Designed for IT innovation..........................................................................20
Conclusion: Transforming Biologics R&D.................................................................................................23
Benchling | What to Look for in an Informatics Platform for Biologics R&D | 3

Purpose-Built for Biologics
MODELING COMPLEX ENTITIES AND PROCESSES

Over the last two decades, the pharmaceutical industry has seen a clear shift toward
biologics, as these new classes of drugs offer the promise of higher therapeutic success.
With this shift have come increased drug discovery and bioprocessing complexity and
uncertainty.
The processes of small molecule R&D are, to a large extent, well-characterized and
well-modeled by software. However, large molecule companies are ﬁrst-and-foremost
developing new and innovative technology platforms.
As legacy informatics providers expanded into the large molecule space, many of
them simply re-purposed their small molecule software, with disappointing results.
Fundamentally, platforms that are effective for biologics R&D must be built from the
ground up to address the unique nature of biologics.
Any informatics platform for biologics needs to accommodate
rapid process changes and capture, synthesize and report on
countless types of data from across the organization. At the
same time, it has to accomplish seamless, often bidirectional,
handoffs between numerous teams.

Model the Complexity of Large Molecules
Biologics R&D is built around complex molecules and
entities (ex. proteins, cell lines, plasmids). Digitally
expressing these molecules and entities is a challenge
in and of itself, but expressing the relationships between
them adds an additional layer of complexity for R&D
informatics.
Model any type of large molecule entity
A biologics platform should enable you to model any
large molecule – from antibodies, to viruses, to yeast
strains – and its unique attributes.
Structure Linkages between Entities
Flexibly structure relationships between any type of
entity. For example, link plasmids to viruses, and then
to cell lines.
Surface Parent Data on Child Entities
Directly display relevant characteristics of certain
entities onto related entities. For example, surface a
tag from a plasmid up to a protein, so you can easily
see what tag to use for puriﬁcation.
Rollup All Relevant Assay Data and Results
to Lots
Centralize data and results from individual lo up to their
parent lots. Create a rich history of experiments across
your organization’s samples.

Model the Complexity of Biologics Processes
The processes of large molecule R&D take place across
numerous teams, branches, and cycles, all of which need
to be modeled using an informatics platform’s workflow
capabilities. Additionally, since large molecule workflows
are nonstandard and not well-defined, R&D needs to quickly
iterate on and analyze the results of these processes.
Model Any Type of Workflow
Given the nonstandard nature of
biologics R&D, look for a platform
that’s flexible enough to adapt
to your organization’s particular
workflows for processes such as
assay development or screening.
Built for Rapid Optimization
Swiftly altering workflow structure
is crucial to optimizing processes
and identifying the most promising
candidates.
Combine Process Flexibility
with Structured Results
Capture
When processes change frequently,
it’s critical to have a system that
provides flexible workflow design
without sacrificing structured results
capture that allows for easy analysis.
Power Multi-Team, Iterative
Processes
Look for a platform that can assign
tasks to teams and individuals, equip
them with complete experimental
context, and surface their progress
as tasks are carried out.
Manage Complex Drug
Pipelines and Portfolios
The platform should give managers
a central dashboard on which they
can track the progress, inputs, and
outputs of all your organization’s
projects.

Uniﬁed Data Infrastructure
HARNESSING ORGANIZATION-WIDE DATA TO
ACCELERATE R&D

The years of organizationally complex research that go into a single large molecule
candidate scatter results and institutional knowledge across different systems. This
makes it difficult for teams to synthesize data from across the organization and use it to
accelerate R&D.
Connecting disparate systems, one-by-one, in an attempt to centralize data is extremely
expensive and time-consuming. Inevitably, you end up with a system that doesn’t really
work, breaks often, and is so difficult to use that your scientists and managers will
effectively ignore it.
Your platform should consist of uniﬁed in silico design tools, lab notebook, registration,
sample management, workﬂow management, and request management modules that
work together to streamline scientists’ work. By centralizing processes, inputs, outputs,
conditions, and results, these modules then give scientists and R&D managers a real-time
view of pipeline progress, informing critical R&D decisions with comprehensive data.
The only way to make sense of all this data and harness its full
potential is with an out-of-the-box platform that automatically
centralizes and interlinks data across your organization.

Automatic Data Linkages Minimize
Busywork
In-Line Registration
Register entities directly from the ELN or in
silico design suite modules.
Auto-Linking between Physical
Samples and Entities
Conﬁgure relationships that automatically
link lots and containers with parent
entities.
Bidirectional Linkages
Any link between two ﬁles should be
automatically bidirectional. For example,
linking in a lab notebook entry to a sample
will create a link on the sample record to
the lab notebook entry.
Link Functional Data with
Experimental Conditions
See the particular experiment that
produced a piece of data.
Reliable Reproducibility
Completely interlinked data and conditions
mean any experiment should be
reproduced with minimal effort.

Collaboration and Cross-Learning
for Your Entire Organization
Full History of Any Piece of Data
See the origin of any notebook entry,
protocol, process, entity, sample, or
sequence, as well as everywhere it has
been used or mentioned.
Seamless Team Hand-Offs
Give colleagues links to samples and a
complete history of upstream activity.
Institutional Knowledge Base
Deepen retained institutional knowledge
over time by gradually building up your
organization’s records.
Eliminate Re-Research
With easily accessible experimental
records, scientists can quickly identify
prior efforts relevant to their current
research.
Assign Tasks to Teammates
Structure tasks with desired protocols,
inputs, and outputs, and send them to
team members.

Tracking Every R&D Sample, Process,
and Result from Start to Finish
1
2
Real-Time R&D Progress
For every project across your organization,
dashboards should display step-by-step
progress and up-to-date timelines.
Lineage Tracking
After tracing from physical lots up to
parent entities, compare the functional
data of lots across different parent entities.
Pinpoint Locations of Lots from
Parent Entities
On any entity, see the locations of every
physical lot of it that has been produced.
Measure Output in Real-Time
Conﬁgure live dashboards with statistics
around process output and efficiency.
IND Filings
Complete IND ﬁling in days by exporting
the complete experimental history of
candidates.
View Progress Across Pipelines
Access a 360-degree executive view of all
processes across different drug pipelines.

Data-Driven Decisions That Accelerate
R&D and Increase Efficiency
Compare Results Across
Different Conditions
Drive process optimization by identifying
the conditions that produce desired
results.
Measure Tradeoffs
Across process iterations, measure
tradeoffs between quality of results,
methods used, and resources.
Resource Utilization and
Planning
With centralized experimental records,
easily track resource utilization and plan
for future needs.
Identify Successful Parent
Entities
Compare the functional data of different
lots to identify which parent entities lead
to desired results.
Eliminate bottlenecks
Identify the processes that take the most
time or resources.
Mine Success Patterns
Across candidates, determine upstream
predictors of effectiveness to maximize
efficacy.
Identify Promising Technology
Platforms
Single out platforms showing the most
promise to advance more effective
candidates faster.

Codeless Conﬁguration
THE BENEFITS OF CUSTOM, WITH THE EASE OF OFF-THE-SHELF

Traditional R&D informatics platforms have required vendor involvement for configuration.
These processes often take months, or even years, to complete. And even following the
initial deployment, simple changes that should be done with the press of a button can
take months to accomplish.
The platform should offer a point-and-click interface for configuration changes, rather
than require changes to code. The available changes to configuration should range
from changes that IT can implement, such as modeling new entities and designing new
workflows, to simpler changes that designated R&D users can make on their own, such as
adding new fields to entities.
Look for a platform that can be configured and re-configured
at the discretion of IT or designated R&D users, without the
need for extensive coding.

Custom Permissions
Structure permissions based on business
criteria. For example, define access to
entity and data types based on a user’s
role, team, function, or any other user
characteristic. Also configure permissions
to limit the data accessible by external
collaborators.
Custom Fields
Track any data, such as the purity of a lot
of antibodies, with custom fields. Define
field types to align with business rules; for
example, assign specific units to fields, or
configure them as dropdowns, multi-select
picklists, or other structures.
Custom Formulas
Across interlinked entities, surface data
from one entity onto an entity that it
links to. Or, populate an entity’s field by
structuring calculations across the data
of related entities. For example, for each
lot of expression hosts, show the average
yield and purity of the antibody lots it has
produced.
Custom Entity Types and
Relationships
Model any biological entity, from patient
samples to yeast cells. Require specific
entity types to link to other entity types;
for example, require that every expression
plasmid have a link to the antibody that it
expresses. Add and interlink new entities
just as easily, such as a cell line entity
that links to antibodies and expression
plasmids.
Custom Workflows
Design custom workflows with trackable
stages that can be assigned to teams.
Designated users should be able to model
new workflows with a point-and-click
interface. In a screening workflow, for
example, configure stages to capture hits
on individual wells. Then, link those hits to
the lots of antibody libraries used.

Open Integration
NOT ALL APIS ARE CREATED EQUAL

Open Integration
The standard for integration of R&D systems used to be hard-coded, one-to-one
connections between different software products. As the number of these connections
grew unmanageable, it became clear that a platform approach would be necessary.
Informatics platforms promise an end to this architectural complexity, since a platform can
serve as a centralized hub for many stable, API-driven integrations. But not all platforms’
APIs are created equal. If the right endpoints aren’t exposed in the right way, then certain
integrations simply aren’t possible. Other times, a platform’s APIs can just be slow.
Completely exposed APIs ensure that when you’re integrating your platform with other
software, you’re only limited by the APIs of the other software. IT can then link every
relevant application to a central platform, enabling them to exchange data in real-time.
The platform standardizes the outputs of each application, making the data of each
application accessible to every other application.
For biologics R&D, the ideal is a uniﬁed data platform with
completely exposed REST APIs, described with accessible
documentation.

Open Integration
Integrate Instruments
Integrate any instruments, such as smart
fridges and plate readers, to automate
data capture. For example, use a matrix
scanner to scan a plate and open it in your
informatics platform, along with the full
lineage for the contents of every well in
the plate.
Integrate Databases
Alongside its APIs, your informatics
platform should have a built-in data
warehouse to accomplish bidirectional
integrations with your other databases,
warehouses, and lakes. For example, link
your manufacturing and R&D databases
to streamline data transfer according to
business and compliance rules.
Integrate Software Applications
Beyond instruments and data stores,
an informatics platform should be able
to integrate with other software when
necessary. For example, directly integrate
data analysis software such as Spotﬁre to
automatically run and visualize complex
queries. As another example, integrate
business intelligence software such as
QlikView to track R&D progress.

Easy Extensibility
DESIGNED FOR IT INNOVATION

Easy Extensibility
No matter how rich the functionality of your R&D informatics platform for notebooking,
registration, sample tracking, workﬂow management and other capabilities, R&D will
always need additional functionality that no off-the-shelf software can accommodate.
Building custom software for these needs typically involves spinning up a separate
hosting environment, dedicating developer resources, and spending extensive time on
boilerplate.
By minimizing IT overhead and producing a smooth user experience, this approach opens
up wholly new development possibilities.
Rather than invest in a separate development platform
that would only leave scientists with yet another distinct
piece of software, look for an R&D informatics solution that
accommodates custom development within itself.

Easy Extensibility
Embed Data Visualizations
Directly within the platform, embed
Prism and Tableau-like functionality
that enables data visualizations. For
instance, a cell therapy development
group might configure a widget in ELN
entries to visualize the efficiencies of
past transductions generated by different
experimental conditions.
Build Validation Rules
Put complex constraints on the platform’s
data validation, such as on the registration
module’s entity types. For example,
require that an antibody entity links to
a unique set of light and heavy chain
entities. Or, define success thresholds so
that only antibody lots above a certain
purification value move to the next stage
of a workflow.
Custom Calculations
When an organization has its own SOPs
for calculating particular properties, they
often have to export their samples, run the
analysis, and then re-upload the results.
Look for a platform that lets you embed
code for any proprietary calculation so
that you can, for example, calculate the
molecular weights of your proteins with
whatever standards you desire.
Build New Applications
On top of the platform, build completely
new applications to support your niche
workflows. For example, if you have
complex SOPs around labeling, you could
develop an application that prints barcode
labels for a certain set of samples that you
know a particular workflow will generate.
By developing applications such as these
within your platform, you can ensure
adherence to SOPs while streamlining
scientists’ work.

Conclusion
TRANSFORMING BIOLOGICS R&D

Conclusion
Across different organizations, the needs of biologics R&D are complex, variable, and
fluid. To manage this complexity, you need a biologics-specific informatics platform that’s
built to interlink R&D data, track R&D progress, and drive R&D decisions. In addition, to
accommodate the evolving R&D needs of your organization, you need an informatics
platform with codeless configuration, open integration, and easy extensibility.
Put another way, biologics R&D needs a platform with unified off-the-shelf functionality
that tames R&D complexity. But it also needs a platform that’s flexible and easy to
customize. Platforms that combine the best of both worlds eliminate vendor dependence
and minimize IT overhead while increasing the software’s ability to meet R&D’s needs.
By evaluating platforms based on these capabilities, you will transform your R&D
organization. Instead of troubleshooting unwieldy software, IT will be able to proactively
focus on more strategic projects. And rather than be hindered by hard-to-use software,
R&D will work more efficiently to bring drugs to market faster.

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Informatics Platforms for Biologics R&D: 5 Key Capabilities to Look For

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