Troshin Peter V, Postis Vincent Lg, Ashworth Denise, Baldwin Stephen A, McPherson Michael J, Barton Geoffrey J
College of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Dundee, DD1 4HN, UK.
BMC Res Notes. 2011 Mar 7;4:48. doi: 10.1186/1756-0500-4-48.
Facilities that provide a service for DNA sequencing typically support large numbers of users and experiment types. The cost of services is often reduced by the use of liquid handling robots but the efficiency of such facilities is hampered because the software for such robots does not usually integrate well with the systems that run the sequencing machines. Accordingly, there is a need for software systems capable of integrating different robotic systems and managing sample information for DNA sequencing services. In this paper, we describe an extension to the Protein Information Management System (PIMS) that is designed for DNA sequencing facilities. The new version of PIMS has a user-friendly web interface and integrates all aspects of the sequencing process, including sample submission, handling and tracking, together with capture and management of the data.
The PIMS sequencing extension has been in production since July 2009 at the University of Leeds DNA Sequencing Facility. It has completely replaced manual data handling and simplified the tasks of data management and user communication. Samples from 45 groups have been processed with an average throughput of 10000 samples per month. The current version of the PIMS sequencing extension works with Applied Biosystems 3130XL 96-well plate sequencer and MWG 4204 or Aviso Theonyx liquid handling robots, but is readily adaptable for use with other combinations of robots.
PIMS has been extended to provide a user-friendly and integrated data management solution for DNA sequencing facilities that is accessed through a normal web browser and allows simultaneous access by multiple users as well as facility managers. The system integrates sequencing and liquid handling robots, manages the data flow, and provides remote access to the sequencing results. The software is freely available, for academic users, from http://www.pims-lims.org/.
提供DNA测序服务的机构通常要支持大量用户和多种实验类型。使用液体处理机器人往往能降低服务成本，但这类机构的效率却受到阻碍，因为此类机器人的软件通常无法很好地与运行测序仪的系统集成。因此，需要能够集成不同机器人系统并管理DNA测序服务样本信息的软件系统。在本文中，我们描述了蛋白质信息管理系统（PIMS）的一个扩展版本，它专为DNA测序机构设计。新版PIMS具有用户友好的网页界面，并集成了测序过程的各个方面，包括样本提交、处理和跟踪，以及数据的采集和管理。
PIMS测序扩展版本自2009年7月起在利兹大学DNA测序机构投入使用。它完全取代了人工数据处理，简化了数据管理和用户沟通任务。已处理了来自45个组的样本，平均每月通量为10000个样本。当前版本的PIMS测序扩展与应用生物系统公司的3130XL 96孔板测序仪以及MWG 4204或Aviso Theonyx液体处理机器人兼容，但很容易适配其他机器人组合。
PIMS已得到扩展，可为DNA测序机构提供一个用户友好的集成数据管理解决方案，该方案可通过普通网页浏览器访问，允许多个用户以及机构管理人员同时访问。该系统集成了测序和液体处理机器人，管理数据流，并提供对测序结果的远程访问。该软件可供学术用户从http://www.pims-lims.org/免费获取。
