Core Lab LIMS

Quick Reference Guide

May 2005

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................... 1
Improved customer service ............................................................................................. 1
Improved accountability ................................................................................................. 1
We need your feedback................................................................................................... 1
Create and Maintain Projects .............................................................................................. 7
Add Project ..................................................................................................................... 7
Edit Project.................................................................................................................... 11
Sample Submission........................................................................................................... 11
Data Retrieval ................................................................................................................... 13
Workflow Data Retrieval.............................................................................................. 14
View Project Data ......................................................................................................... 15

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Introduction
The VBI Core Lab Facilitys (CLF) laboratory information management system (LIMS)
was developed by GraphLogic, Inc. of Branford, CT. The LIMS is a workflow system
intended to simplify sample submission and data retrieval for improved customer service
and to increase accountability by the CLF. Workflow systems operate from the premise
that objects (samples in this case) move from process to process, based on pre-established
criteria and/or results. The LIMS tracks and records all decision points, criteria and costs
associated with each submitted sample.
Supported browsers for the VBI LIMS are Firefox and Mozilla. Opera is largely
functional; though you will lose auto-fill features on sample submission pages.

Improved customer service

The LIMS provides automated sample submission screens with input validation to
significantly decrease the questions we may have to ask before we can begin processing
your samples. Additionally, the LIMS provides automated email notification to the
submitter when lab processing has been completed, a repository for retrieval of data from
the current submission and a central, project based, repository for retrieval of all data
assigned to each project.
Additionally, when members of our customer community are diligent to enter descriptive
information about their projects/experiments, we might, over time, be able to suggest
research efforts, previously performed, that might be related and provide contact
information for that effort.

Improved accountability
The samples you entrust to us and the quality of the test results we return to you are
important. With that in mind, the LIMS not only enforces control procedures for each
protocol but also audits all processing that is performed; the steps a sample passed
through, any control parameters and associated cost. All audit data is available through
various reports within the LIMS.
Each step in the LIMS has, stored in the database, an associated cost. Sample processing
fees are automatically calculated by accumulation of only those fees associated with steps
through which the sample moved. Over time, we plan to automate the submission of ISR
information and billing through Banner for our Virginia Tech customers.

We need your feedback

We hope you find the LIMS to be helpful in communicating with the CLF. The system is
a continually evolving product. To be successful, we need your feedback we welcome
your comments

Request a VBI Core Lab LIMS Account

1. Enter the URL for the VBI Core Lab LIMS into the address bar of your internet
browser: http://lims.vbi.vt.edu.
2. Login using the account setup user ID: PIregistration with password register as
shown in the following figure.

register

Figure 1 - Core Lab LIMS Login Page

3. Click on the menu item Management Systems, select the Project Management option
and then New PI Registration.

Figure 2 - Core Lab LIMS Registration Option

4. The New PI Registration screen is displayed as shown in the following figure.

Figure 3 - Core Lab LIMS ID Request Page

5. Complete the user ID request form as follows:

User Id Enter your choice for your new LIMS user ID. Must be at least
6 characters in length.

Password Enter your choice for your new LIMS password. Must be at
least 8 characters in length.

First Name Contact first name.

Last Name Contact last name.

Middle Initial (Optional) Contact middle initial.

Organization Organization for which the contact performs duties that

require core lab services.

Title Job title of contact at the organization named previously.

Department (Optional) Department in which the contact performs

duties that require core lab services.

Phone Contact phone number in the format xxx-xxxx.

Fax Contact FAX number in the format xxx-xxxx.

Email Contact email address.

Mailing Address Contact mailing address.

Billing Address Contact billing address.

Click the Submit button to validate data entered into the form. Correct errors
and click on the Submit button as necessary to complete form submission. The
ID request form will be forwarded to core lab personnel for approval and
activation as shown in the following figure.

Figure 4 - Core Lab LIMS Submission

6. Click on the menu item Admin and select the Logoff option.

7. The LIMS user ID application will be reviewed as soon as practical. When approved,
you will receive an email containing your activated user ID and password.
8. Proceed to login at the VBI core lab LIMS at http://lims.vbi.vt.edu:8080/graphlogic
using your approved ID and password.

Create and Maintain Projects

Upon successful login to the CLF LIMS with your new account, you may proceed to the
appropriate sample submission form within the application. The access level for each
LIMS user determines which navigational menus are available to the user. CLF client
accounts will typically have access to 5 menus as follows:

Admin Contains administrative functions for the LIMS

My Profile: {your user ID} Allows the user to update account
information including password, name, phone number and email address.
Help Provides access to the contents of the LIMS help subsystem.
Logoff Allows the user to cleanly log out of the LIMS.

Genomics Provides access to processes within the Genomics laboratory such as

DNA Sequencing, DNA Fragment Analysis and Gene Expression Analysis. The
sample submission form for each specific process is available on the Genomics
menu by selecting one of the following menu items:
Affymetrix Workflow

MicroArray Printing

BioAnalyzer

Plasmid Prep

Custom MicroArray

Sequencing

Library Picking

Real-Time PCR

Proteomics Provides access to processes within the Proteomics laboratory. The

sample submission form for each specific process is available on the
Proteomics menu by selecting one of the following menu items:
2D Gel
Mass Spectrometry

Management Systems
Project Management Provides access to project setup and data retrieval
functions. Available functions include Add Project, Edit Project and
View Project Data. Each is described in more detail in the following
sections.

Add Project
Before submitting sample data to the CLF for processing, a Project will be created to
contain, or group, sample and result data. Subsequent sample submissions may reference
the same project, or individual projects may be set up to encompass each submission.

The CLF recommends that clients logically group sample submissions in similar fashion
to the scientific experiments that are being performed.
To add a project, click on the Management Systems menu, followed by the Project
Management option and then the Add Project option as represented by the following
figure.

Figure 5 - Add New Project

The LIMS will next collect some high-level information about the new project as shown
in the following figure.

Figure 6 - Create New Project Name

The fields that must be completed to continue are the Project Name and PI Last
Name. Provide a meaningful name for the project space to be created in the LIMS
database and select the primary investigator name from the list-of-values. After
completion of all data fields, click on the Submit button to continue to the next step.
The project will be created in the LIMS database and the user will be offered the
opportunity to enter additional details about the project including the responsible
department, project description, experimental design and objectives. A sample screen is
shown in the following figure.
You may click on the yellow arrow ( ), near the top-left side of the screen, at any time
to return to the previous screen.
To reference help content for the Add Project screen, click on the help icon ( ).

Figure 7 - Create New Project Details

The CLF encourages clientele to enter as much information as possible to facilitate future
organization, retrieval and appropriate cross-discipline collaboration with additional
members of the research community. It is important to note that the CLF only shares
sample results with the originator. However, there will be future opportunity for each
client to share data with additional or future collaborators.
When all appropriate data has been recorded for the project, click on the Submit button
to complete the new project initialization process.
You may click on the yellow arrow ( ), near the top-left side of the screen, at any time
to return to the previous screen.
To reference help content for the Add Project Info screen, click on the help icon ( ).
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Edit Project
Similar to Add Project, the Edit Project function allows the user to update details
about an existing project.
Select the Edit Project option from the Management Systems Project
Management to display the Edit Project screen as shown in the following figure.

Figure 8 - Edit Project

Only projects that the logged in user has permission to access will be available from the
list-of-values. Select the appropriate project name from the list and click on the Submit
button to display currently stored project details (as shown in Figure 7). Edit details as
desired and click on the Submit button to save the updated project information.
You may click on the yellow arrow ( ), near the top-left side of the screen, at any time
to return to the previous screen.
To reference help content for the Edit Project screen, click on the help icon ( ).

Sample Submission
Each protocol available within the LIMS contains a unique sample submission screen.
However, the essential functionality of all sample submission pages is identical. This
section will describe those essential functions that may be exercised on the sample
submission screen for any process.
Each sample submission screen will contain fields for user entry of data. The screen will
be separated into two primary sections as follows:

Common information generally at the top of the page. This is information that
is common to all samples that will be submitted in any given group.

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Detailed sample information follows the common information. This is

information that will be unique for each sample, or that will describe a unique
procedure that is to be performed for each sample.

Key controls for the form are circled in the following figure and described in the
following paragraphs.

Common
Information

Detailed
Sample
Information

Figure 9 - Sample Submission

The user may click on the yellow arrow (

previous screen.

) (1 in the figure) at any time to return to the

The user will click on the Submit button (2 in the figure) to indicate that data entry is
complete. This action will cause the LIMS to validate all data entered on the submission
form. The user will be notified if any required fields have been left blank or if any of the
data does not meet established core lab criteria. In general, core lab criteria will be
described in help text contained near the upper-right corner of the screen and will
generally consist of things such as volume for a given concentration.
When all sample data passes validation criteria for the submission screen, the LIMS will
store the sample data and initiate processing within the LIMS workflow.
The user may add any required number of rows to contain detailed sample information.
The control to add a row(s) is labeled 3 in the figure. Move the mouse pointer over the
last available number in the list and wait for the popup box as shown in the preceding

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figure. To add one blank row, click on the Add a row options. To add multiple blank
rows, click on the Add rows option. Choosing the option to add multiple rows will
result in an additional popup box to collect the number of rows that should be added to
the list.
To delete an erroneous detail data row, hold the mouse pointer over the item number at
the beginning of the row until the popup box is displayed. Then select the option to
Delete the row.
The LIMS also provides hot keys to help with some redundant tasks such as appending
a sequential number to a series of sample names or copying identical data down any
column.
To append a sequential number to a column of data, perform the following actions:

Click on the data entry box for the first entry in the column that will contain
serialized names.

Type the static part of the name the part of the name that remains constant for
each row of the column.

Hold down the Ctrl key and press the down arrow of the computer keyboard
to populate all remaining rows in the column.

For example: Type a sample name such as ARB-05092005- and then press
<CTRL><Down Arrow>. The Sample Name column will be populated with strings
such as ARB-05092005-1, ARB-05092005-2, ARB-05092005-3, until all rows in the
selected column have been populated.
To simply copy static data in all remaining rows of a column, perform the following
actions:

Click on the data entry box for the first entry in the column that will contain
copied information.

Type the data that is to be copied to all rows of the column.

Press the down arrow of the computer keyboard to populate all remaining rows
in the column with exact copies of the data typed into the data entry block.

Typing a volume of 1000 and then pressing <Down Arrow> will populate all entries in
the volume column below the current row with the value 1000.
To add notes or comments to the sample submission, click on the notes icon (labeled 4
in the figure).
Click on the help icon (labeled 5 in the figure) on any sample submission screen to
access more specific data/sample requirements.

Data Retrieval
When all requested protocols have been executed for a set of samples submitted on a
single submission form, the requesting user will be notified that the results files are ready
for retrieval. In the LIMS, there are two ways to view/retrieve result files: from the
relevant workflow and from the View Project Data function of the LIMS.
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Workflow Data Retrieval

To retrieve sample results data from the workflow, log into the LIMS using your user ID
and password and select the relevant lab/process from either the Genomics or
Proteomics menus. If necessary, click on the + icon to the left of the Data Retrieval
step to expand and display the list of samples that have completed processing and have
results files that are available for download by the user.

Figure 10 - Process Workflow Data Retrieval

Click on the link for any row to display more detailed sample information as shown in the
following figure.

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Figure 11 - Project Data Retrieval

If the user is authorized to access/download the results data files, each filename will be a
link that may be clicked to initiate downloading/saving the file to the users local
computer. When data retrieval has been completed, click on the Acknowledge Data
Retrieval to allow the samples to exit the Data Retrieval step.
You may click on the yellow arrow ( ), near the top-left side of the screen, at any time
to return to the previous screen.
To add notes or comments to the sample submission, click on the notes icon (

).

To reference help content for the Data Retrieval screen, click on the help icon ( ).
All results data files are also available under the Management Systems menu by
selecting Project Management and then View Project Data.

View Project Data

View Project Data is a central repository for all sample results contained in the LIMS
for a given project. Sample information is segregated by process and listed by timestamp
within each process. A sample View Project Data screen is shown in the following
figure.

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Figure 12 - View Project Data

Only projects that the logged in user has permission to access will be available from the
list-of-values. Select the appropriate project name from the list and click on the Submit
button to display all stored project results files.
You may click on the yellow arrow ( ), near the top-left side of the screen, at any time
to return to the previous screen.
To reference help content for the View Project Data screen, click on the help icon
( ).

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