VICTORIA, British Columbia – GenoLogics, a leading provider of laboratory information management system (LIMS) software specifically designed for next-generation genomics labs, today announced the availability of GenoLogics Rapid Scripting™ Application Programming Interface (API) for scientific programmers and bioinformaticians.

The GenoLogics Rapid Scripting™ API provides control and flexibility so scientific programmers can quickly and easily automate sample tracking to ensure quality results, incorporate new analysis methods, extract full information from leading-edge technologies and optimize laboratory research workflows to streamline operations. “Rapid technological advancements such as next-generation sequencing (NGS) are allowing researchers to make great scientific strides in basic and clinical research. But next-generation genomics laboratories can’t predict what technologies will transform their research next,” GenoLogics CEO, Michael Ball said. “With our Rapid Scripting API, scientific programmers now have the tools they need to adapt lab informatics and to accelerate next-generation research using today’s and tomorrow’s technologies – without relying on the LIMS vendor.”

The rapid adoption of LIMS in modern genomics labs is being driven by the purchase of next- generation sequencing instruments. Getting the NGS instruments up and running quickly is often paramount when deciding on which LIMS to purchase. Complementary to GenoLogics’ LIMS pre-configuration, which allows labs to get up and running immediately, the GenoLogics Rapid Scripting API enhances the LIMS by enabling scientific programmers to adapt the LIMS to integrate with other genomics systems, optimize workflows, and customize downstream processes.

The Rapid Scripting API makes GenoLogics’ Geneus LIMS an open system by allowing it to be extended to integrate with other laboratory systems already in use, as well as those that could be deployed in the future. Developed in conjunction with GenoLogics’ customers and partners, the Rapid Scripting API utilizes Representational State Transfer (REST), the latest and most robust technology for web-enabled scientific scripting. This technology along with GenoLogics’ on-line documentation and support services, allow for the flexible integration of scripts in the lab environment and enable programmers to begin scripting in hours rather than days or weeks.

“Geneus and the GenoLogics Rapid Scripting API were critical to the successful scale-up of our Northwest Genomics Center. We have ever-changing protocols in our lab and they evolve daily. The nice thing about the Geneus system and the Rapid Scripting API is that they allowed us to respond and adapt quite easily so if someone changes a step in a process, we can pull it out, reconfigure another one and put it back in place. We don’t have to rework the entire workflow, or spend time struggling to figure out how we’re going to re-engineer a hard coded LIMS system,” said Johanna Swanson, Scientific Programmer at the Northwest Genomics Center – University of Washington.

Academic institutions are rapidly implementing next-generation sequencing technologies, as sequencing time and costs decrease. While these technologies produce valuable data for scientific research and drug discovery and development, many of the information technology systems available do not meet the requirements of the scientific community. In a recent survey by J.P. Morgan, 63 percent of NGS laboratory directors surveyed said that data storage, data management and informatics are the biggest hurdles to expanding next-generation sequencing.

The Geneus LIMS is designed specifically for genomics and NGS and allows researchers to automate workflows and easily trace samples and projects across multiple instruments and applications within one centralized system.