Reconfigurable context-sensitive bio-bridge middleware for smart bio-laboratories

Recent advances in genomic research and biotechnology have already led to an increased level of technological sophistication in today's bio-laboratories ("wet" labs), where complex experiments are now routinely carried out with various high-tech lab equipment. With the current proliferation of wireless technologies and the emergence of advanced embedded computing technologies, we envision that the wet lab can benefit greatly from smart technologies implemented under a scalable smart unwired access infrastructure. In this paper, we show that with our custom-designed Bio-Bridge (BB) device - a smart middleware that possesses: (a) a common interface platform for communication between multi-vendor bio-instruments and mobile devices; (b) next-generation middleware characteristics such as transparent computing and awareness functionalities; and (c) low-cost scalability and easy reconfiguration, we can provide a smart lab platform for operation in the common IEEE 802.1 Ib wireless network environment. We also propose novel solutions based on our BB devices to address two of the challenging research issues in the Smart Lab, namely: reconfiguration and context-sensitive computing.