Arctoris Freenet as virtual laboratory for the UK life sciences

生命科学是英国繁荣、科学和工业竞争力的重要支柱。大约有50万学生就读于生物、生物医学、化学和相关课程（Universities UK 2015）。2019冠状病毒病大流行导致科学培训和学术研发工作大规模中断，这在当前情况下更为重要，因为教育和培训下一代研究人员以及开发新的诊断和治疗方法至关重要。Arctoris有限公司是一家总部位于牛津的公司，开发并运营一个全自动、远程控制的生命科学研究实验室。我们的机器人设备为学术中心、大学、生物技术公司和制药公司的研究人员进行基于细胞、分子生物学和生物化学的实验。由于完全自动化，Arctoris的机器人设施不受COVID-19大流行的影响，继续为学术界和工业界的研究人员进行拯救生命的研究。与此同时，Arctoris已经实现了一个行业定义的专有IT基础设施，使研究人员能够设计实验，远程控制实验室在线，并实时查询数据。在拟议的项目中，Arctoris Ltd将快速设计和实施Arctoris Freenet，这是一种开放科学软件解决方案，用于虚拟协作空间，与现有的自动化实验室高度集成，使生命科学领域的持续在线教育与实验室培训相结合。因此，Arctoris Freenet为学术研究人员提供了无缝协作、培训、监督和开展实验所需的工具，即使在封锁状态下也是如此-消除了继续生命科学教育和进步的最大障碍之一。具体而言，5个月内上线的新门户将使学术研究人员能够继续指导和监督他们的博士生；生命科学专业的学生学习新技能并继续他们的学位；大学将继续跟踪项目进展。Arctoris Freenet将包含一套软件工具，可以在生命科学环境中实现安全便捷的研究协作和培训，为50万名学生提供继续培训的机会，成为熟练熟练的生命科学研究人员。

The life sciences are a crucial pillar of the UK's prosperity and scientific and industrial competitiveness. There are about half a million students enrolled in biological, biomedical, chemical and related courses (Universities UK 2015). The COVID-19 pandemic has led to large-scale disruption both in scientific training as well as academic R&D efforts, that are even more important under the current circumstances, where educating and training the next generation of researchers and developing new diagnostics and therapeutics is critical.Arctoris Ltd is an Oxford-based company that developed and operates a fully automated, remote-controlled laboratory for life sciences research. Our robotic facility conducts cell-based, molecular biology, and biochemistry experiments for researchers at academic centres, universities, biotechnology companies and pharmaceutical corporations.Thanks to full automation, Arctoris' robotic facility is not affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, continuing to conduct life-saving research for researchers in academia and industry. At the same time, Arctoris has already implemented a sector-defining proprietary IT infrastructure that enables researchers to design experiments, remote-control the laboratory online, and to interrogate data in real-time.Within the proposed project, Arctoris Ltd would rapidly design and implement Arctoris Freenet, an Open Science software solution for a virtual collaboration space highly integrated with and in addition to the existing automated laboratory that enables continued online education combined with lab-based training in the life sciences. Thereby, Arctoris Freenet provides the tools required for academic researchers to seamlessly collaborate, train, supervise, and conduct experiments, even in a lockdown - removing one of the greatest barriers to continued life sciences education and progress. Concretely, the new portal to go online within 5 months will enable academic researchers to continue mentoring and supervising their PhD students; life sciences students to learn new skills and continue their degrees; and universities to continue tracking programme progress.The Arctoris Freenet will contain a set of software tools that enable secure and convenient research collaboration and training within a life sciences context, providing half a million students with an opportunity to continue their training, and become fully skilled and proficient life sciences researchers.