LabControl: a software for microbial information management

Abstract

During the past years, next-generation sequencing techniques have allowed large-scale sequencing and generated an enormous and constantly increasing quantity of genomic data. This scenery, together with the development of cheap, faster and modern microbiological techniques, has allowed scientists to produce more data with higher quality. However, this advance has created management issues to microbiological laboratories which deal with NGS and biological collections. Considering those management issues, the main goal of this study is to develop a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) to support these laboratories in the management of the generated data. LabControl was implemented as a web-based system, using the programming language Java. Its functionalities and data model were designed according to literature, data patterns and researchers opinions. As a result, a reliable and validated data model was specified and the functionalities of the system were designed based on that model. To address the established needs, the architecture of the system was designed and the technologies to be used were chosen. The system has been built with the usage of modern and reliable technologies, and based on good practices of scientific computing and software development. LabControl is presented as a comprehensive open-source LIMS specialized in managing NGS and biologic collections microbiological data. Nevertheless, the system can be used by any microbiological laboratory due to its capability to handle any type of information from in silico, in vivo and in vitro experiments. Finally,LabControl presents an easy-to-use interface and can be easily expanded to handle non-addressed features.