What An LIMS Is And How It's Used

By Karen Smith


When it comes to research laboratories, no matter what kind of science is taking place, there are going to be massive amounts of data and information that needs to be recorded. That is why all modern labs are equipped with something called a LIMS, or a laboratory information management system. LIS or LMS, laboratory information system and laboratory management system respectively, all serve similar purposes, but it is important to be aware of the subtle differences between them.

These information systems are types of software that are used in all modern laboratories around the world. In order to manage all of the data and information that these sophisticated and complex facilities go through on a daily basis, these systems play a crucial role. The job of software like this is to support all of the many different operations that the lab undergoes, making higher levels of research not only possible but also much easier.

This kind of system is absolutely necessary just to track a lab's complicated workflow. Every piece of data that gets recorded in a lab is also highly important. Modern scientists will only trust this job to sophisticated software like this.

People might not realize that these systems have been around for a long time. At first, their only use was sample tracking. This had evolved into the advanced software that labs use today.

If someone asks four scientists what they consider an information system for laboratories to be, they're likely to get four different answers. This is because a person's definition may vary depending on what kind of science they are in. Knowing what a scientist really means is important.

The different types of information management software sometimes are put into different categories, but all of them have served nearly identical functions over the years. Some systems are used more on the commercial and research side of things. Others are looking more on the forensic and clinical side, making their applications somewhat different.

Scientific studies have been growing more advanced ever since they were first performed, and so the software that researchers use to record their data has become more advanced with the studies themselves. This is necessary for the systems' functions to be able to keep up with the researchers' needs, and so that they can bring together the core pillars of science. As their uses have grown, the different kinds of software have become more similar in nature.

Entering information manually can often seem like a hassle, but it is hard for the average person to even imagine how difficult it was in laboratories before this automated software existed. Beyond just plain annoying to have to do (and a literal pain for those scientists whose hands cramped up from how much writing they had to do on a daily basis), it also endangered the success of studies because of simple transcription errors. It is much harder to have incorrectly recorded data with this kind of a system.




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