Managing Laboratory Workflow with Labbase

We have designed and implemented a system for managing workkow in large semi-automated laboratory projects. This system sits on top of LabBase, a database management system specialized for representing complex biological data types and experimental steps. The workkow manager uses a simple state/transition model to represent laboratory protocols and ooers a perl-based API for interaction with LabBase. In order to accommodate the need to modify the protocols frequently, the workkow management has been decoupled from data management, allowing the database schema to change without aaecting the workkow protocols and vice versa. The system has proven to be of great usefulness over a period of seven months of heavy usage and multiple laboratory protocol changes. Enhancements are planned that will further increase its robustness and utility. LabBase, its API, and the workkow manager are publicly available under a license that permits free redistribution of source and object code, though currently a license for the commercial ObjectStore DBMS is also required.