EnzymeTracker: A Web-based System for Sample Tracking with Customizable Reports

Abstract — In many laboratories, researchers store exper-imental data on their own workstation using spreadsheets. However, this approach poses a number of problems, ranging from versioning or sharing issues to inefficient data-mining. Standard spreadsheets are also error-prone as data do not undergo any validation process. In this paper, we propose the EnzymeTracker, a web-based laboratory information man-agement system for sample tracking, as a robust and flex-ible alternative that aims at facilitating entry, mining and sharing of experimental biological data. The EnzymeTracker features online spreadsheets and tools for monitoring numerous experiments conducted by several collaborators to identify and characterize samples, from their basic functional anno-tations to their complete enzymatic activity. It also provides libraries of shared data such as protocols, and administration tools for data access control using OpenID and user/team management. Our system relies on a database management system for efficient data indexing and management and a user-friendly AJAX interface that can be accessed over the Internet. The EnzymeTracker facilitates data entry by dy-namically suggesting entries and providing smart data-mining tools to effectively retrieve data. It also features a number of tools to visualize and annotate experimental data, and export customizable reports. The EnzymeTracker is available online a