Last month, PerkinElmer unveiled its Ensemble for Chemistry, one of four Ensemble suites. Ensemble for Chemistry is an electronic laboratory notebook (ELN)-based suite of applications for planning and logging experiments. End-users can input, store and analyze data. “There’s a real productivity gain because [end-users] can clone previous experiments and repeat them or change them slightly,” said Phil McHale, who heads PerkinElmer’s Chemistry software portfolio.

Ensemble for Chemistry is an outgrowth of PerkinElmer’s recent software acquisitions, as well as its own Labworks LIMS. The suite encompasses CambridgeSoft’s E-Notebook, ChemDraw, and registration and inventory capabilities. The system also includes ArtusLabs’ Ensemble ELN software: Reaction Genius, which searches and analyzes reactions; Method Genius, which searches for and suggests methods; and Structure Genius, which searches for chemical structures and is useful in labs that were paper based, as it can search in PDFs and PowerPoint files.

Ensemble for Chemistry also utilizes the PerkinElmer-developed Search Genius for Microsoft SharePoint, which simultaneously searches E-Notebook and SharePoint documents for chemical-structure files. “Finding [such information] in SharePoint is virtually impossible, but we’ve now opened that up and provided that structure searchability into the SharePoint domain,” explained Dr. McHale. “[The suite is set apart because of] the depth of the chemistry functionality, and the ability to mine historical information.” The Ensemble for Chemistry can work alone or with other Ensemble suites. The suite will be available this quarter.