Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) Data Archiving Enabled by ASM Format with Merck & Co. Inc

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Transforming ELN Data Archiving: A Recap from the 2024 Allotrope Connect Workshop

At the 2024 Allotrope Connect Workshop, Merck & Co., Inc. and ZONTAL presented a session on the future of Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) data archiving, highlighting the role of ASM (Allotrope Simple Model) format in preserving and standardizing scientific data. Featuring Sreeni Yetukuri (Merck & Co., Inc.) and Spencer Gardiner (ZONTAL), the session focused on digital transformation in ELN data management and showcased a live product demonstration of the ASM-powered ELN archive solution.

Addressing the Challenges in ELN Data Management

Many R&D organizations rely on ELNs to capture and store valuable scientific data, but as digital ecosystems evolve, challenges arise in maintaining, standardizing, and ensuring accessibility of legacy ELN records.

Key Challenges in ELN Data Archiving:

Data Fragmentation – ELN data is often scattered across multiple platforms, making retrieval difficult.
Lack of Interoperability – Legacy ELNs store data in proprietary formats that limit reuse and integration.
Compliance Risks – Ensuring data integrity, traceability, and long-term access is crucial for regulatory compliance.
System Decommissioning – Transitioning from outdated ELNs to modern platforms requires a scalable archiving solution.

How Merck & ZONTAL Address These Challenges

By leveraging the ASM format, Merck & ZONTAL developed a vendor-neutral ELN archiving solution that enables seamless data standardization, retrieval, and compliance.

How It Works:

Data is extracted from legacy ELNs and converted into ASM format.
ASM ensures structured, searchable, and interoperable ELN records.
Archived data is stored in a central repository, ensuring long-term accessibility.
Users can search, view, and retrieve ELN records with full metadata and audit trails.
ASM-powered ELN archives integrate with modern R&D platforms, supporting AI-driven insights and analytics.

Live Demonstration & Key Takeaways

During the session, Spencer Gardiner provided a live demonstration showcasing how ZONTAL’s ELN archive viewer enables:

Easy retrieval of archived ELN data via an intuitive interface.
Full metadata preservation, ensuring context and scientific traceability.
Audit trails for regulatory compliance and data integrity.
Integration with AI-powered search tools, allowing users to extract insights from historical ELN records.
Cross-platform data standardization, making ELN data reusable across different research teams.

The Future of ELN Data Archiving

As laboratories move toward automated, structured, and interoperable data ecosystems, the adoption of ASM format is revolutionizing ELN archiving. This approach ensures:

Long-term data preservation without vendor lock-in.
Regulatory compliance through audit-ready records.
FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) data principles for scientific research.

ZONTAL and Merck are at the forefront of this transformation, helping organizations transition to a fully digital, compliant, and accessible ELN archive.

Watch the Full Session

To see these innovations in action, we invite you to watch the full presentation from the 2024 Allotrope Connect Workshop. Gain deeper insights into how Merck & ZONTAL are revolutionizing ELN data archiving with ASM format and see a live demonstration of the ELN archive viewer.