A New Digital Resource for Pre-Clinical Studies

NIMML has built a comprehensive web-based experimental environment that provides support and infrastructure to computational and wet-lab experimental research. The bioinformatics technologies that enable integrated research efforts at NIMML include a combination of data management, laboratory information management systems, real-time data processing, data sharing, and Web portal.

NIMML has greatly enhanced an open source solution (called MauseDB) for the management of mouse colony, pre-clinical and mechanistic studies. The new version of this software has added capabilities that improve the efficiency and quality of wet-lab experimentation, from design to implementation. The added features of our digital resource include: 1) grouping wild-type and knockout mice into different cohorts, 2) adding the information about the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) and record the diet for each cage, 3) adding summary information of the mouse colony in the homepage; 4) adding automated warning systems to remind project managers of important dates of their projects, and 5) adding barcodes for improved operating efficiency.

NIMML has also developed and maintains a customized version of LabKey, a web-based platform designed for translational research teams. The NIMML uses a customized version of LabKey as its internal electronic notebook and laboratory management information (LIMS) system for real time data-acquisition, data analysis, collaboration, and for publication of raw and processed data. More recently we have begun the integration of CMS and LabKey to further streamline the research process. The integrated system provides a list of mice available in the mouse colony for use in a study. In the future the selected mice will be automatically inserted as subjects into the study in LIMS and marked in the MouseDB to ensure that the same subject is not selected for multiple studies.

The new version of the NIMML Colony Management System can be downloaded here and be used by others in the research community.

About NIMML

The NIMML Institute is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit public charity foundation focused on a transdisciplinary, team-science approach to precision medicine at the interface of immunology, inflammation, and metabolism. The NIMML Institute team has led numerous large-scale transdisciplinary projects and is dedicated to solving important societal problems by combining the expertise of immunologists, computational biologists, toxicologists, modelers, translational researchers, and molecular biologists. The Institute is headquartered in Blacksburg, VA. For more information, please visit www.nimml.org or contact pio@nimml.org.