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Figure 6 | BMC Bioinformatics

Figure 6

From: LabKey Server: An open source platform for scientific data integration, analysis and collaboration

Figure 6

Typical steps for designing an assay.

1. An administrator creates an assay-type folder to act as a staging area for assay data before the data has undergone quality control.

2. A scientist creates a new assay design to match the contents of experimental results stored in spreadsheets. In this example, the assay design is based on a generalized assay template, but other assay types could be used. The assay design is named "GenericAssay," as marked by A.

3. The scientist then adds a set of batch fields that must be filled out when each batch of runs is imported. User-defined batch fields are backed by the same set of customizable properties as system-defined fields. This image shows label, description, type, lookup and custom URL properties for several fields. Other properties include conditional formatting, default values and regular expression validators. Here, the "Machine" batch field (B) is configured (in popup C) as a lookup to a simple list ("Lab Machines"). At the time of data import, the user will be presented with a defined list of options for populating the "Machine" field that are drawn from the primary keys of the "Machines" list.

4. Next, the scientist defines the run fields (D) that must be collected for each run. In this example, only one field ("MachineSetting") is defined.

5. Finally, to save time, the scientist infers the assay's data fields (E) from a representative spreadsheet file. These fields could also have been designed manually, in the same manner as the batch and run fields.

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