Top Ten Reasons Academic Research Laboratories Need CDD Vault

1. Students come and go, but data live on
2. Students learn about data management and analysis tools
3. Management of research workflow is enhanced via data integrity
4. Graduates’ job prospects are enhanced
5. Chemistry and Biology students learn about cross-disciplinary teams
6. Structure-activity analyses are enhanced
7. Research collaborations are promoted
8. New Leads and other IP values are enhanced
9. Students and researchers can focus on science, not maintaining datasystems
10. Affordable, budgeted cost instead of expensive in-house datasystems

Detailed Top Ten Reasons Academic Research Laboratories Need CDD Vault

1. Students come and go, but data live on

• Retrieving data from students' notebooks, reports and spreadsheets is difficult and inefficient
• Archival datastores require more documentation than informal project spreadsheets

2. Students learn about data management and analysis tools

• CDD Vault project templates encourage complete and accurate data management setup
• Analyze results with included tools or CDDVision, or export to other analysis packages

3. Management of research workflow is enhanced via data integrity

• Students learn how their work fits into a multidisciplinary project team's objectives
• CDD Vault handles data from medicinal chemistry, analytical chemistry, experimental biology, molecular biology, toxicology, computational chemistry, and other project team disciplines
• Project managers can more easily track progress, identify bottlenecks, pivot to new leads

4. Graduates’ job prospects are enhanced

• Good data management/analysis skills are valued by hiring research managers
• Students can learn to use CDD Vault public databases to find promising research directions

5. Affordable, budgeted cost instead of expensive in-house datasystems

• Laboratory management software and hardware must be acquired, maintained, secured, upgraded, etc.
• Cloud-based CDD Vault handles all those functions at a fixed, agreed-on cost
• Cost might be shared with collaborators, or with other department colleagues, and can not only be included (at least in part) on an NIH grant budget, but the goals of supporting data integrity and collaboration will be viewed positively by reviewers and Program Officers

6. Chemistry and Biology students learn about cross-disciplinary teams

• Chemists can look at raw assay results, look for potential side effects of a lead compound class
• Biologists can see ancillary compound data – chemical type, stability, solubility etc.

7. Structure-activity analyses are enhanced

• Chemists can compute, correlate structures/properties/activities and propose hypotheses
• Biologists can search for similar compounds and their activities in public databases
• Suitable for structure-activity, structure-property, and sequence-property correlations

8. Research collaborations are promoted

• External and internal collaborators can see and manipulate appropriate data
• Only make visible that data appropriate each collaborator

9. New Leads and other IP values are enhanced

• Missing or poorly documented data can sink a patent application or licensing deal
• Data should be auditable, and data changes tracked – requiring a proper database

10.  Students and researchers can focus on science, not maintaining datasystems

• Student created/maintained datastores may cause problems
• Commercial database solutions may require significant customization and maintenance
• Eliminates the chance of a student (or other lab person) inadvertently modifying or deleting data from a master spreadsheet

From the desk of Peter Gund, CDD Advocate