The Road to Discovery: Lessons Learned for Designing in Emergent Research Fields

In the creation of new lab space, historical typologies, chemistry, biology, etc., have enabled the refinement of rigorous operational and safety measures to become well-defined paradigms when undertaking a new laboratory design—each often treated with a prescribed series of known boxes to be “checked” in service to an understood need.

However, the recent maturity of the field and subsequent scientific advancements within the study of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have forced lab designers, users, and safety specialists to reexamine their approach to lab design due to the merger of several disparate scientific and operational expectations under the umbrella of this rapidly evolving lab design paradigm.

This presentation will examine the merger of these disparate sciences and their associated requirements through a recently completed project case study. Guiding the overlap of standard operating procedures, their alignment, their conflicts, and the resultant lessons learned during project discovery and development, the subject matter shall provide insight into this new lab design type and share how the development of a series of new lab guides and tools enabled the project team to creatively overcome design challenges and support the industry’s design approach for ADC research environments.

Learning objectives:
1. Identify the critical objectives related to ADC-based sciences and explain how they differ from more traditional fields of scientific study.
2. Utilize scenario-based planning to increase laboratory occupant safety.
3. Identify the user, environmental, and social risks associated with ADC-based sciences.
4. Describe the importance of operational flow diagrams as a core component of ADC lab design.
5. Apply the concept of overlapping subject matter advancement as a design tool to reduce risk and improve project schedules.