The Ubiquitous Lab - Or enhancing the molecular biology research experience

Abstract. This PhD research aims to implement solutions from the Pervasive Computing field for the molecular biology laboratory. As a special requirement, the applications have to use the grid infrastructure provided by the MiniGrid framework. The proposed solutions include a grid awareness system, an intelligent laboratory bench system, and an augmented paper system. Methods from ethnography and interaction design are used to guide the solution design and evaluation processes. The expected contribution to the field is to coin the concept of grid awareness, to create a smart laboratory bench and asses its impact in the researchers’ work, and to explore the usage of grid computing in electronic laboratory books and augmented paper interfaces.