(1253-B) Custom Software to Bridge the LIMS -Lab Automation Informatics Gap

Abstract: Modern research laboratories operate at pace and volume that eclipse the labs’ capacity to hand-curate its operational and scientific data. Labs are highly dependent on a robust informatic ecosystem that is integrated with the lab automation and instrumentation being used to generate the labs’ physical and informatic products. The diversity of processes and tools employed throughout research make it exceptionally difficult to find commercial solutions that satisfy the full spectrum of requirements. We have addressed this challenge by developing a modular framework in a single application to host tightly-scoped “micro-apps,” each of which efficiently integrates a specific lab process to the informatic systems that back it. With this architecture, new informatic tools can be very rapidly developed, are easier to maintain, and are easier to use by our scientific end-users. In turn, this enables us to be very agile and facilitates “following the science,” and fosters a spirit of innovation and willingness to try new things knowing that it will not require a large time or financial investment. Here we present one such micro-app developed to integrate the lab informatics management system (LIMS) we use for biologics with our processes for selecting DNA sequences to cloning and for assembling DNA fragments.