In this customer spotlight, Adrien Takada, Customer Success Manager at Scispot, sat down with Carla Neckles, Senior Scientist, and Priya Subramanian, Head of IT at Arrakis, to discuss how Scispot has transformed Arrakis’s workflows for surface plasmon resonance (SPR) data and how they are expanding automation to mass spectrometry and mRNA inventory management. Arrakis is pioneering small molecule therapeutics targeting RNA, and Scispot’s customizable platform is helping them accelerate data processing, improve collaboration, and scale research operations.

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Introduction

Question: Can you introduce yourselves and share your roles at Arrakis?

Carla Neckles:
“My name is Carla. I'm currently a senior scientist at Arrakis within the Biophysics sub team. I particularly characterize small molecules interacting with RNA to understand its affinity and other interesting parameters to optimize those particular small molecules.”

Priya Subramanian:
“My name is Priya. I'm head of IT at Arrakis.”

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Transforming the SPR Workflow

Question: Can you tell us how Scispot has helped your team's efficiency with the SPR workflow?

Carla Neckles:
“We run routine SPR screens to characterize small molecule RNA interactions and the Scispot workflow allows us to quickly assess that data set out of our instruments and reorganize it in a structure that allows us to upload it in a shared database, and that saves a lot of time on our end. So it's a quick way to process the data.”

Question: How were you processing and sharing data before working with Scispot?

Carla Neckles:
“We actually had two different reiterations. The first one took the longest amount of time, where we were exporting out different Excel files, manually exporting each individual image, manually renaming each image to associate it to each individual compound. We had several different Excel files opened up for each individual target that we were screening, and it was a lot of copying and pasting to get it in a particular format that's ready to be uploaded in our shared database. That took hours of work. Sometimes there are 30 to 50 images that you have to rename. We did have a streamlined data processing application that was in house, but we wanted something that was more customizable, which is why we pivoted to Scispot.”

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Expanding Automation Beyond SPR

Question: How do you envision similar workflows helping with your mRNA and mass spec processes?

Priya Subramanian:
“Now that we have had our first success with our SPR use case, we are in the process of currently finishing up onboarding a couple of other use cases. We are in the testing stage. With the help of the SPR use case, our scientists have seen the possibility of automation and the flexibility of a system like Scispot, which is able to be customized to uniquely adapt to each research group's needs. And I hope that that will drive adoption across company wide to other use cases.”

Question: Are there additional use cases you’re targeting?

Priya Subramanian:
“Oh yeah. I mean, mass spectrometer is one. And then we have mRNA inventory database, which is already in the process of being completed in Scispot. But we do realize that that mRNA inventory database actually interacts with many other internal applications. They are currently in the form of Excel sheets or different custom made applications, where hopefully we'll be able to integrate Scispot with all of those other components, delivering a streamlined experience for scientists.”

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Enhancing Data Management and Collaboration

Question: What changes have you noticed in your data management and collaboration processes since adopting Scispot?

Carla Neckles:
“In terms of processing the data, we go from the evaluation software, specifically through a Biacore 8k system that then allows us to export it, store at a user friendly Excel file that we could then sort and reorganize and add in additional images within the Scispot platform. In addition, it allows us to look at others users' evaluations, and so before, I didn't look at my other colleagues' evaluations. So if we get to quickly assess if there are red flags that we're seeing with the data sets, we then take that and add in our own manual notes in there so we could easily edit it. And it's a streamlined way to edit the system. That's what we notice for each individual experiment. And then it re-uploads another file that we could then put into our CDD database, that we could then share with other users and other teams that particular data set. We like it because of the fact that it allows an initial QC that stays within the Biophysics team, and then allows us to have a format that we share between different departments. For us, that's a nice, streamlined way to do things. In addition, we could edit and add in new parameters that we never were able to do before. It was like a black box, or just like, okay, either you, namely, edit it, or you had a black box where it just resorts everything for you, and you didn't see how that reorganization was occurring.”

Priya Subramanian:
“The broader impact is that Scispot, being an integrated, cloud-based data management platform, gives real time visibility into the same system for cross functional scientists. Like many other biotech companies, we have a research lab with a variety of lab instruments generating data from diverse sources in diverse formats. The ability of a system like Scispot to be able to integrate with all of these standard instruments, to be able to directly ingest data and then process the data in a single, streamlined platform, and then have the ability, like Carla mentioned, to be able to deposit that data into a downstream application automatically from Scispot using API is very valuable and impactful. We're hoping to leverage that across the company for various different use cases.”

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Advice for New Scispot Users

Question: Do you have any advice for new users or for folks that might be considering Scispot?

Priya Subramanian:
“I would say, start off small, start with a high impact use case. And it really helps to have a champion. In our case, Carla was really open to-like she mentioned, she already had an existing system which could do it, but then she saw that it lacked the flexibility to customize based on the changing user requirements, and she was open to test out a new system that could quickly adapt to the requirements. So it really helps to identify a champion user like that, to onboard your first use case, which will, in turn, then drive adoption company wide.”

Carla Neckles:
“I would say, don't be afraid to try something new. Initially, it does take some time to go in and figure out how you want to reprocess your data to have it in a user friendly format, and that time up front that you spend is well worth it, because you're saving hours of work later on. So just don't be afraid to try something new.”

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Final Thoughts: A Smooth and Intuitive Experience

Question: Was there anything else you’d like to add about your experience with Scispot?

Priya Subramanian:
“Overall, it's been a smooth and seamless experience for us to implement our workflow automation in Scispot. And I think in general, the platform is user intuitive, which saves a lot of time in training. That's always a plus.”

Carla Neckles:
“I actually really enjoy the tutorials that your team put together. So for folks who have never seen the Scispot platform before I was easily able to show that video and share it with our team, and said, ‘Here you go.’ And they were able to use it without me even going and demonstrating how to use it. And so I do like the additional resources that your team provides.”

Arrakis’s experience with Scispot demonstrates how a customizable, integrated platform can eliminate manual bottlenecks, enhance collaboration, and scale research workflows. By streamlining SPR data processing and expanding automation to mass spectrometry and mRNA inventory, Scispot is empowering Arrakis to accelerate their innovative RNA-targeted drug discovery efforts with greater efficiency and visibility.

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Watch the Full Interview

Want to hear directly from the Arrakis team about their experience with Scispot? Watch the full interview below to learn how Arrakis is streamlining RNA-targeted drug discovery, automating workflows, and driving data collaboration with Scispot.

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Stay tuned for more customer stories from innovative biotech teams leveraging Scispot to accelerate their research and scale their operations!

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