# Optimizing Research Lab Operations Through Open-Source Infrastructure The NEMO community leverages shared open-source platforms to streamline complex laboratory management workflows. - **Source:** [MIT News — AI](https://news.mit.edu/topic/artificial-intelligence2) - **Published:** 2026-11-03 - **Topic:** [Operations](https://brifing.si/c/operations) - **Original article:** - **On Brifing:** https://brifing.si/s/03667aee-ac6a-41a6-860e-04f8e57efc57 ## Modernizing Laboratory Management Managing modern research laboratories involves complex tasks like equipment scheduling, billing, and user training. For large facilities with thousands of users, these operational demands create significant bottlenecks. The 2026 NEMO User Meeting at MIT.nano addressed these challenges by gathering 65 representatives to discuss collaborative approaches for managing shared research infrastructure effectively. ## The NEMO Platform Ecosystem NEMO is an open-source system originally released by NIST in 2018 to manage shared research facilities. The platform allows laboratories to adapt software to their specific operational needs. With the 2023 launch of the community edition, facilities can now develop and share custom extensions, fostering a collective approach to solving common management problems. ## Diverse Facility Adaptations Participants from institutions like Stanford, Columbia, and Princeton showcased varied implementations of the NEMO platform. Stanford focused on real-time equipment status displays, while Princeton developed automated process charts for monitoring tool performance. These presentations demonstrated that while scientific missions differ, the core operational challenges across diverse research facilities remain remarkably consistent and solvable. ## Scaling Operational Efficiency At MIT.nano, NEMO supports over 1,600 active researchers and manages more than 200 tools with 160,000 annual usage hours. Jorg Scholvin notes that small administrative improvements yield massive impacts when multiplied across thousands of users. This scale necessitates a flexible, adaptable system that can evolve alongside new research methods and changing user requirements. ## Discoverability Through Hydra Finding specialized capabilities across distributed facilities is a major hurdle in microelectronics research. MIT.nano introduced Hydra, an open-source platform designed to connect multiple NEMO installations. Unlike static databases, Hydra synchronizes data in real time directly from active facility management systems, making specialized equipment discoverable without requiring manual updates or separate, outdated resource lists. ## Collaborative Infrastructure Development The NEMO community operates on the principle that shared development is more sustainable than individual effort. By contributing improvements back to the community, facilities create a platform more capable than any single institution could build alone. This model empowers managers to share ideas, solve technical problems collectively, and reduce the burden of individual system maintenance. ## Future of Research Integration Closing discussions at the meeting focused on the future integration of data, automation, and artificial intelligence into lab operations. The community is evolving into a self-sustaining network where managers actively collaborate to refine workflows. This shift toward a connected research ecosystem aims to make distributed infrastructure more usable and responsive to next-generation needs. ## Enabling Faster Innovation The ultimate goal of these operational improvements is to accelerate the research lifecycle. By streamlining access to specialized equipment and expertise, researchers can move more quickly from initial ideas to real-world applications. In fields like microelectronics, where progress depends on distributed capabilities, this infrastructure connectivity is essential for maintaining competitive innovation and scientific impact. ## Sources covering this story - https://news.mit.edu/2026/building-connections-across-research-infrastructure-1103 — --- _Summary written by Brifing from the original reporting. Copyright in the original article belongs to its publisher; read the full piece at the link above._