Arctoris Freenet as virtual laboratory for the UK life sciences

生命科学是英国繁荣和科学及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（英国大学2015年）。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，在当前情况下，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，这一点甚至更加重要。Arcadian Ltd是一家总部位于牛津的公司，开发并运营了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细胞、分子生物学和生物化学实验。得益于全自动化，Arcadian的机器人设备不受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，Arcadian已经实施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，在线远程控制实验室，并实时查询数据。在拟议的项目中，Arcadian有限公司将迅速设计和实施Arcadian Freenet，一个开放科学软件解决方案，用于与现有自动化实验室高度集成的虚拟协作空间，支持生命科学领域的持续在线教育与基于实验室的培训相结合。因此，Arcadian Freenet为学术研究人员提供了无缝协作、培训、监督和进行实验所需的工具，即使在封锁状态下也是如此-消除了持续生命科学教育和进步的最大障碍之一。具体而言，新的门户网站将在5个月内上线，使学术研究人员能够继续指导和监督他们的博士生;生命科学学生学习新技能并继续他们的学位; Arcadian Freenet将包含一套软件工具，能够在生命科学领域开展安全、方便的研究合作和培训，为50万学生提供继续接受培训的机会，使他们成为完全熟练和精通生命科学的研究人员。

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.