by Jess Pesner, PhD, Field Application Scientist Manager, Revvity
From the bustling world of startups and across varied spheres of academic research, shared lab facilities and cores are indispensable to innovation and scientific progress. Not only do they provide a self-humming ecosystem that fosters a sense of community and camaraderie, but they also serve as vital hubs to access advanced, oftentimes high-ticket items, equipment and trained personnel. As large organizations and institutions plan an addition or expansion of a core facility, maximizing the space, the talent, and the use of equipment procured should be, hopefully, harmonious.
Just as researchers dream of a eureka moment, we understand that ideas still need to manifest into a testable hypothesis using a best-possible approach and associated technologies/assays available. So too, lab managers and their teams understand that not proactively planning to maximize the utility of these shared facilities and complex instruments would be a disservice to the researchers they support.
For those on the outside marveling – or anyone “in it” looking for a refresher – understanding key characteristics of cores and shared lab facilities, as well as some of the unique challenges they face, will help bring about a better understanding of their role in research communities. It will also help with fine-tuning operations and optimizing the utility of these spaces and resources they make available.
Doing science can be expensive
The NSF’s NCSES InfoBrief estimated $960 billion total for 2023, based on performer-reported R&D expectations. Comparatively, in 2022, that figure was $892 billion, of which the business sector funded $673 billion and the federal government funded $164 billion (some preliminary data).1 When you are on the bench and doing research, most researchers will be budget-conscious, calculating tangible ROI while considering if they can get away with an n+1 and not an n+2 in their master mix. As time goes on, the wish list tends to grow. It takes a village mindset for shared facilities, supported by their institutions, to help researchers access pooled resources and significantly reduce the financial burden on them. This burden includes not only point of purchase costs, but preventative maintenance scheduling (and associated fees) by asset owners, and ensuring a steady stream of projects/users that permits a “healthy amount” of routine usage. Sharing models ensure that for a reasonable per project or per sample cost, labs can access new technology or platforms they may not have been able to otherwise.
The flipside, of course, is securing sufficient funding for initial setup and ongoing maintenance of the space. This includes funding for the supporting team as well as the instruments at an institutional level. Therefore, there is a balance of cost-efficiency amidst the funding constraints – at an instrument/equipment procurement and access level. Cores and shared lab facilities must make decisions about what to purchase to meet diverse needs of multiple users they intend to support, including the amount of specialized knowledge and expertise in the given technique and its applicability for varied scientific questions, and also the practical know-how of running the analytical instrument properly to maximize results from limited and important samples.
To not languish, but to keep pace
Curious minds (especially scientists) need safe spaces to ideate with kindred spirits. Cores and shared lab spaces are a mecca for these conversations: the “what if,” “wouldn’t it be amazing,” “can you believe if,” and similar questions that are so vital to opening new avenues of investigation and unforeseen opportunities for innovation and collaboration. We are excited to be at the cusp of the anticipated momentum in Emerging Technology Programs (ETPs), Point-of-Care Testing (POCTs), and centralized Total Laboratory Automation (TLAs), amongst others, from the broader scientific community. 2 Louis Pasteur was famed for his science and his wisdom when he gave a nod to serendipity, but favoring those with a prepared mind. As shared spaces foster a platform for deep collaboration, so too does preparedness. Ideally, working across departments and groups to coordinate instrument use, training and/or other interdisciplinary interactions works to enhance productivity and safeguard against inevitable conflicts (e.g., scheduling changes due to personnel availability, or downtime required for maintenance of sophisticated instruments). It’s a careful balance of collaboration with coordination, of on-time and down-time, and the availability to access specialized expertise that makes these shared spaces run best.
Look to future-proof to help inform the future
When we talk about science, in most cases we’re talking about the future, specifically, helping our collective future. Henrich Rohrer noted, “science means constantly walking a tightrope between blind faith and curiosity; between expertise and creativity; between bias and openness…in short, between an old today and a new tomorrow.” There are many constant reminders of building a future from the hard work of people past, or planting seeds for tomorrow for the next generation. I doubt you’ll find anyone who’ll call these efforts “sweat equity without return.”
It does take a village, in and out of the lab, to foster a community, and importantly, a sense of confidence in experimentation through tried-and-true experience. When it comes to future-proofing, there are multiple facets to consider. For one, the planning needed to minimize downtime of assets and maintain their longevity, but also the prioritization of purchases to stay current with “new tech” (until a new technological paradigm shift, that is). Future-proofing is also real estate management. Finding ways to best utilize existing space and making room to grow – especially when there’s limited, coveted bench space. As with most things, a reorganization or move incurs initial costs, and using physically separated facilities could impact the integrity of the lab specimen prior to analytical assessment (even if a stroll on campus grounds is a welcome respite if you are working in a basement lab).
Furthermore, initiatives to protect environmental resources via responsible, green lab practices or LEED credentialing may be more challenging to organize as a collective effort. Connected cores and shared facilities may receive high scrutiny from the get-go just from the sheer number of high-energy consuming instruments or sheer volume of samples processed.
Science is a global initiative
It is important to recognize that as an ecosystem resides within a biome or biosphere, the sweat-and-tears science that happens locally contributes to a larger global effort. One that core and shared lab facilities are at the forefront of – from cautious foresight for data science and data protection that comes with globalization, to standardization and accessibility to automation or semi-automation that could help minimize human errors. From help with shared good practices and protocols for reproducible research, to enrichment of data sets only possible via cross-institutional and global programs for population studies, geological studies, diversity in genetic or epigenetic surveying in clinical trials, etc. The list of responsible, good-faith practices and due diligence that can be attributed to these facilities only grows.
What an amazing place a core or shared facility is for researchers, from not only a pragmatic benefits standpoint of alleviating the cost of research and democratizing access to technologies at the forefront, but also for their intangibles. Those moments in science that matter just as much. Sociologist William Cameron noted, “not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” Taking a moment to recognize and appreciate these spaces ahead of World Laboratory Day (April 23) gives well deserved credit to them for all they do to support a more innovative, vibrant, and global research community.
References
1. National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES). 2025. U.S. R&D Totaled $892 Billion in 2022; Estimate for 2023 Indicates Further Increase to $940 Billion. NSF 25-327. Alexandria, VA: U.S. National Science Foundation. Available at https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf25327/
2. Wilson, S., Steele, S., & Adeli, K. (2022). Innovative technological advancements in laboratory medicine: Predicting the lab of the future. Biotechnology & Biotechnological Equipment, 36(sup1), S9–S21. doi.org/10.1080/13102818.2021.2011413
About the author
Jess Pesner is a Field Application Scientist Manager at Revvity. She received her PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Missouri where she synthesized fluorescent sensors for neurotransmitters. Pesner then did a postdoc at Stanford University developing contrast agents and disease models for glioblastoma research. In 2020, she joined Revvity as a field application scientist and now serves as the team’s manager.