Multiplexing Inventory Management: Satisfying the Enzymologist, the Customer and the Executive Leadership Team

Abstract

Small molecule (MW<1200) compound management teams typically have the responsibility of managing inventory of a large number ofmolecules that have been provided by the medicinal chemist. The compound management group, depending on the infrastructure, distributes these small molecules as powders or solutions and may even create the assay-ready plates necessary for biological testing. The Inventory Management group within a biologically oriented company such as AssayQuant has a different set of challenges compared to the traditional small molecule Compound Management lab. As an assay service provider, AssayQuant relies not only on robust inventory tracking of its small molecule customer compounds, but also on various components of the assay including the PhosphoSens®substrates, enzymes, and reagents necessary for a multitude of different workflows and users, while ensuring sufficient inventory to meet all needs.

AssayQuant has developed and implemented an inventory management system that supports the inventory necessary for maintaining biological assay testing and satisfying the requirement of the finance team to track cost of goods. The inventory management system, developed in collaboration with Scigilian, relies on four distinct inventories: PhosphoSens®substrates, enzymes, customer compounds, and reagents. A registration system was developed that allows the scientist to properly register the individual entities with the annotations required for the downstream data analysis. Included within the registration system is the capability to maintain the individual Certificate of Analysis documents that are required for each of the PhosphoSens®substrates. Although each inventory is tracked and maintained uniquely, the entire inventory management system is encapsulated into one overarching software platform that enables registration, storage, ordering, retrieval and reconciliation of the inventory required for testing, followed by a seamless transition of information into the data analysis portion of the software to provide documentation support and traceability for the final data set.

Key Takeaways

• Inventory Management group at AssayQuant developed, in collaboration with Scigilian, a software platform that manages all ofAssayQuant’sinventory.
• Unique inventories were developed to encapsulate the multiple inventory types the inventory management group is required to maintain (kinases, peptides, small molecules).
• Unique registration segments were developed to better categorize the kinases and AssayQuant’ssensor peptides.
• Cost of Goods tracking at the container level was also developed as mandated by the leadership team so that metrics surrounding profit margins could be generated.