DArTdb is our Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS), a purpose build storage, data management and analysis system designed to follow our technological workflows. It provides support to all our platforms which service our activities – technology development and genotyping service.
DArTdb effectively has to deal with the following requirements:
- Managing large quantities of data produced by high-throughput technology
- Eliminating risks of sample and marker tracking errors through the integration of the laboratory hardware and widespread use of barcoding technologies
- Offer reliable identification of the sample plates, clone assays and flowcells
- Easy, quick and secure access to the data
DArTdb closely integrates with our on-line ordering system along with a range of analytical tools. This assures direct access to any data in a secure and integrated way, which eliminates potential problems during data transfers and conversions.
General list of DArTdb features:
- System and user administration
- Controlled vocabulaties
- Workflow management for service provision and technology development
- DNA sample annotations and quality management
- Management of marker and assay libraries – which includes annotation of sources and naming, tracking library plates using barcodes, individual marker tracking and identification
- Experimental management (with both marker and sample tracking)
- Definition and management of sequencing runs – fully automated integration with sequencers data production pipelines;
- Storage and archive of a large quantities of raw data for future re-analysis if needed
- Utility functions – e.g. barcode search, workflow and experimental planning calendar, sequence alignment for NCBI databases, etc – all designed by technology users for most ergonomic workflow