Here's A Bit About The LINA Application



News:
LINA has now been accepted into JALA (Journal of the Association of Laboratory Automation)


We are pleased to present the Laboratory Inventory Network Application (LINA) for Windows. LINA is a simple free software system that was developed to assist research laboratories in keeping track of their collections of biologically relevant materials, including oligonucleotides, bacterial (plasmid) strains, yeast strains and cell lines. Basically, the LINA system was developed to allow academic laboratories to efficiently manage their inventory of specialized molecular biology reagents.

This application utilizes relational databases that are implemented using Microsoft .NET technology. The software system can be set up to work on one computer or in a network with multiple users. Users initially activate the databases they desire to employ and provide a user specific name to individualize each database. Pre-constructed database templates are provided which contain standardized data fields. Each database contains two additional user defined fields for custom data, if necessary. As new samples are added to the inventory, each is provided with a unique laboratory identifier. This identifier is assigned automatically and sequentially. In this way, all incoming reagents are appointed a laboratory name alias. The systematic assignment of an alias allows rapid retrieval when a given reagent is required.

LINA also contains a number of useful search tools: One general search allows database searches using up to four user defined criteria linked by the Boolean operators AND/OR/NOT. A second more elaborate DNA search tool is incorporated into the oligonucleotide database. This DNA search tool allows the user to input a DNA sequence and search for primers present in the database that would anneal to the target sequence.

In summary, LINA represents an easily implemented and useful organizational tool for biological laboratories with large numbers of strains, clones, or other reagents.

Credits
LINA was developed as a collaborative project by the following individuals:
A.F. Yousef - Departments of Oncology and Microbiology & Immunology, University of Western Ontario
I.M. Baggili - Department of Computer and Information Technology, Purdue University
G. Bartlett - Bartlett Consulting, Indianapolis, IN
M.D. Kane - Department of Computer and Information Technology, Purdue University
J.S. Mymryk - Departments of Oncology and Microbiology & Immunology, University of Western Ontario