There is a growing trend toward QA in labs. QC systems are integral to virtually all commercial goods and services, and certain clinical application labs implement these systems (such as Good Clinical Practice, Good Manufacturing Practice and Good Laboratory Practice) for data submission to regulatory agencies. A QA group, Quality Central, launched in 2009, now collaborates with more than six research labs to ensure their materials, data and instruments are compliant. These types of organizations can help with the main issues that adversely affect data from research labs: disorganized sample storage; inadequate data logging; variable experiments that do not follow protocols; unsecure data analysis; missed instrument maintenance; and the lack of criteria for storage of old and undated reagents.

Source: Nature