Sunday, June 17, 2018

Filled Under:

LIMS: What It Means And How They Are Used

By Andrew Thompson


Virtually every lab that has ever existed has incorporated the use of what's called a laboratory information management system. The common abbreviation for this kind of thing is LIMS, which is helpful to know for anyone going into a laboratory setting for the first time and encountering this acronym. There are also other common names for the same type of system, such as LIS for laboratory information system, as well as LMS for laboratory management system.

The reason why everyone in the scientific community has to know about these types of things is that it would be impossible to find a single working lab today that doesn't have one. The reason for this is that scientific research laboratories nowadays have to go through so much information that there is no possibility that all of the data would be able to be tracked properly without one. It's not just about making the life of the scientists easier; it's about reaching new heights of scientific understanding, to help mankind in all kinds of different ways.

Tracking workflow is a major task in most laboratories simply because of how many people are often working in them and how much specific information is required. It is good to know exactly what happened, who did it, when, and any other information that can be given. This is often what makes the difference between an experiment failing and it going well.

When information is put in manually, there is so much more room for error than when it is put in automatically. Although some people are very meticulous and extremely careful, there is just so much that can go wrong when records are kept this way. All it takes is for a number or decimal point to be put in the wrong place, or for a file to be misplaced, for disaster to occur, and that's why an automated method is best.

Specialty labs usually have specialty systems to suit their particular needs. This helps to get things done in an efficient way. These types of labs often have a specific way that data needs to be entered.

A management system is nothing new, but the main thing that has changed about it is that they have grown much more advanced. This is both thanks to the help of, as well as to accommodate, the advances in technology. More advanced computers have allowed these systems to become more advanced, and more advanced science requires these capabilities.

These systems were first used to track samples. Scientists relied on them heavily in the early days of experimentation. Now the uses of information systems have grown immensely.

There can be no doubting that people come in many different varieties, and the same goes for scientists, scientific research facilities, and even the different branches of science itself. As such, many different scientists don't exactly agree on what makes a laboratory information system. There are a number of slightly different definitions, so if a person is about to start working in a new lab, a helpful thing to do is learn exactly what the scientists in this lab mean when they say LIS, LMS, LIMS, or whatever other acronyms they're using to mean the information system of the laboratory.




About the Author:







0 comments:

Post a Comment