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Imagine a research world where laboratory scientists don’t just analyze their data; they talk directly to it, and it talks back. That’s a reality that the Somerset, New Jersey–based laboratory information management system (LIMS) provider LabVantage is working toward.
The company’s latest LIMS platform, version 8.9, layers semantic search onto complex data sets, allowing scientists to pose natural-language questions across disparate sources—whether brain scans, chemical analyses, or research papers—and quickly receive actionable insights.
“Our CEO now asks customers, ‘Are you talking to your data?'” explained a LabVantage representative at the company’s booth at PittCon 2025. “If your company isn’t talking to its data by now, you have to catch up.”
Similar ideas are percolating in the IT landscape. Snowflake, for instance, describes a new era of AI-driven data analytics where users can “talk to [their] data.” In LabVantage’s case, the company has a vision for what it dubs “SaaS 2.0” or “Services-as-a-Software.” The model extends beyond traditional laboratory software to encompass the laboratory team itself.
LabVantage says the approach also addresses a persistent problem in scientific research—the reproducibility crisis—by capturing comprehensive metadata and making all experimental parameters searchable.
“Previously, data would sit on someone’s hard drive or in paper notes,” noted one LabVantage representative. “People couldn’t find it, so they repeated experiments.” LabVantage aims to help researchers sidestep such pitfalls through enhanced ELN (Electronic Laboratory Notebook) capabilities which ensure temperature, instruments used, and other parameters are documented and discoverable by anyone who needs them.
One technology that can help make that dream a reality is semantic search. LabVantage’s 8.9 software uses semantic search to enable researchers to ask practical questions like, “I’m trying to make a formula of paint with a shiny gloss. What have I used in the past that gave this kind of result for this test method?” The approach eliminates reliance on institutional knowledge that might disappear when researchers leave.
The company also has alliances with AWS and Azure cloud services. It has an expanding partnership with SAP related to quality management and product lifecycle management.
As laboratories increasingly move toward automation, LabVantage positions its 8.9 platform as ready to support even the most ambitious visions, including the concept of “dark labs”—fully automated laboratory environments where human intervention is minimal.
As a LabVantage spokesperson said during a booth visit, “We’re becoming part of the subscription process. We’re not just a software vendor—we’re providing all the capabilities needed to grow their lab and keep it updated.”