In this customer spotlight, Puja Biswas from Scispot sat down with Dana Bhattacharyya, Director of Operations, and Lauren Amos-Schappert, Research Scientist at 3DBioFibR, to discuss their innovative work in biopolymer manufacturing, the challenges of scaling biotech operations, and how Scispot has helped them transition from paper-based systems to digital workflows as they prepare for ISO certification.

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Meet the 3DBioFibR Team

Question: Could you introduce yourselves and tell us a bit about 3DBioFibR?

Dana Bhattacharyya: I'm the Director of Operations at 3DBioFibR. At the heart, we are a manufacturing organization. We specialize in collagen, but we essentially have a patented dry spinning platform that allows us to make physiologically relevant fibers of any spinnable biopolymers. To date, we have spun anything from collagen to spider silk to chitosan or dextran. My role at the company is as the technical lead. In terms of background, I come from a regulated industry-I was in drug manufacturing before.

Lauren Amos-Schappert: I'm one of the research scientists at 3DBioFibR, so I'm a little bit more hands-on in the lab and obviously in the office too. I was involved with the company when we brought on Scispot, and part of the transition going from paper notebooks, where everybody had their own notebook, to a digital system.

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The Challenge: From Paper to Digital

Question: How were you managing your data and processes before using Scispot?

Dana Bhattacharyya: Being a nascent company, the way that Scispot has really helped us is essentially just having all the information in one place. Inventory management, product management, or even process management was a lot more manual before Scispot, and I think that's the reality for a lot of startups. We used to collaborate on OneDrive, and we still do, but Scispot has most definitely helped us combine our information in a way that makes it a lot easier to go from this obscure knowledge that we've gained from one set of experiments to repeatability of the work.

Lauren Amos-Schappert: It was definitely a process in terms of managing experiments and projects that were coming our way and kind of struggling with keeping it all in one spot. Like Dana said, we would use OneDrive. But things can tend to get a little bit messy in OneDrive sometimes. So it's hard to have all the information that you need in one spot.

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Finding the Right Solution

Question: What led you to choose Scispot for your lab operations?

Lauren Amos-Schappert: Scispot was definitely a huge advantage when we started bringing that on. We could have all of our experiments grouped together in specific spots, and it was much better in terms of traceability and being able to track what we did and being able to repeat what we did.

Dana Bhattacharyya: We've been using Scispot for just under two years now. Essentially, Scispot has seen us grow as a company as well. We appreciate the collaboration. I think it's been a collaborative environment for us to move things forward for both companies.

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Streamlining Workflows and Preparing for Compliance

Question: How has Scispot helped you improve your workflow and prepare for regulatory compliance?

Dana Bhattacharyya: Scispot has been instrumental in centralizing our experiments and inventory management in one place, which has significantly improved our workflow efficiency. We're now moving towards an ISO 9001 certification, and having a platform that is 21 CFR Part 11 compliant is invaluable for this process. This compliance capability in Scispot's system provides us with the foundation we need for regulatory requirements, though we haven't activated that specific package in our subscription yet. The ability to have all our experimental data properly documented and easily accessible has transformed how we approach quality control and compliance preparation.

Lauren Amos-Schappert: The Scispot team was extremely helpful in guiding our transition, demonstrating not just how to use the platform but adapting it to fit our specific needs and processes. What sets Scispot apart from other systems we evaluated is their flexibility—they didn't force us into rigid workflows but instead worked collaboratively to understand our requirements and customize the platform accordingly. This adaptable approach made the transition much smoother for our team, especially as we were still developing our own quality processes.

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Key Features That Make a Difference

Question: What specific features of Scispot do you find most valuable?

Dana Bhattacharyya: What I value most about Scispot is its remarkable flexibility and scalability. You can begin with basic functionality and gradually build up your platform as your needs evolve—which is exactly what we've done. The compliance modules are particularly valuable as we work toward ISO certification. Additionally, Scispot's third-party integration capabilities make it seamlessly fit into our existing systems without requiring a complete overhaul of our processes. This reduces the energy barrier that often comes with implementing new software. The AI integration options they've introduced recently also show how the platform continues to evolve with technology trends, giving us confidence in its long-term value.

Lauren Amos-Schappert: Scispot has been the perfect platform for our transition from scattered, unstructured data to a cohesive, trackable system. What I find most valuable is how it transformed our approach to documentation and process management. Before Scispot, we had limited visibility into our workflows and struggled with consistency. Now, we have a centralized system that enables better tracking, more formal processes, and improved documentation standards. The platform guided us toward implementing proper design controls, process controls, and manufacturing controls—essential elements we hadn't fully developed before. This structural framework has been invaluable in building quality into everything we do.

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The Evolution of Quality Management

Question: How has your experience evolved since implementing Scispot?

Lauren Amos-Schappert: Really shifting us over the last two years, thinking about where we started-even the mindset when we started with you guys in Scispot-and thinking about where we are now in terms of how we think about processes and how we track our processes, is just crazy, crazy different in a good way. You guys have been extremely helpful in terms of helping us transition into where we are now and how we're able to track what we are now. We wouldn't be where we are today without your help.

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Advice for Teams Considering Scispot

Question: What advice would you give to teams considering Scispot for their operations?

Dana Bhattacharyya: I think for anybody who comes from a regulated industry, or even doesn't, quality just sounds like a big buzzword. Think of it in terms of baby steps. You wouldn't want to go into an ISO system head-on. Scispot is like a really nice platform where you're able to test out the waters, test out the facilities that it offers, and identify the gaps in your system. It's a really nice platform to try out, particularly for those who are starting out from a very academic environment into building a team. It's been helpful for a mindset change. We have had a great experience with Scispot, and I think anybody who's considering it should definitely take Scispot up on it. Scispot is relatively affordable compared to other ELNs. So it's well worth the investment, both in terms of time and money.

Lauren Amos-Schappert: From my side of things, definitely coming from a more academic background-whereas Dana has been very much involved in quality before-for myself and my colleagues, none of us really came from a quality background and didn't know what that looked like. So that transition of being able to take those baby steps and learning a little bit slower what quality really means and the types of things you have to track was important. Because I'll admit, I was probably a little naive at first when we were going from a paper notebook, then starting to talk about quality and thinking, 'Oh, of course, we can just jump right into an ISO certification.' And that's definitely not the case.

Scispot was extremely helpful in terms of getting everybody well-versed in what it means to be certified in those quality domains and slowly allowing us to transition all of our systems and our lab work and projects over at our own pace. You could go as quickly or as slowly as you wanted in terms of transitioning over. From my perspective, as somebody who hasn't been involved in quality before, you guys were very helpful in introducing us to it, and your system was very amenable to that.

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Conclusion

3DBioFibR's innovative approach to biopolymer manufacturing, combined with Scispot's configurable platform, positions them well for future growth and regulatory compliance. As Dana put it, they've been able to "combine our information in a way that makes it a lot easier to go from this obscure knowledge that we've gained from one set of experiments to repeatability of the work." Lauren added that the transition has been "crazy different in a good way" in terms of how they think about and track their processes.

As they scale up operations and work toward ISO 9001 certification, Scispot will continue to support them in managing data, streamlining workflows, and meeting compliance requirements for their manufacturing processes.

Scispot helped 3DBioFibR centralize information, improve traceability, manage inventory, and prepare for ISO certification-all while allowing them to make the transition at their own pace. If you're looking to streamline your lab operations, improve data management, and prepare for regulatory compliance, request a demo with Scispot today to see how we can support your organization's growth journey.

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Watch the Full Interview

Want to hear directly from 3DBioFibR's team about their experience with Scispot? Watch the full interview below to get insights into how they are scaling their operations, managing compliance, and optimizing workflows 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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