CeuticalSoft provides turn-key IT solutions for Drug Discovery laboratories based on the OpenHTS library of open source software. For Laboratories with rigorous production demands, it is often best to leave IT implementation in the hands of professionals.
CeuticalSoft designed and built the OpenHTS software library making us the provider of choice for OpenHTS service and solutions. OpenHTS is much more than a collection of modules, CeuticalSoft can package, configure and deploy OpenHTS technology in a comprehensive Enterprise Research LIMS that addresses specific areas of interest such as high throughput screening, assay development, expression profiling, compound administration, analytical chemistry and many others.
CeuticalSoft Engineers designed and built the OpenHTS modules so we can use that expertise to provide custom integration and modification of the existing suite of OpenHTS modules and databases. Our intimate knowledge of the OpenHTS code base means we can complete OpenHTS projects in a fraction of the time of less experienced programmers.
CeuticalSoft has extensive experience integrating different technolgies from multiple vendors. This could include software for instrumention, robotics, corporate databases, financial databases and applications, inventory management, chemical registration, chemistry cartridges, data analysis, SAR, molecular modeling, sequence analysis, analytical chemistry and LIMS systems.
OpenHTS Solutions
CeuticalSoft provides packaged solutions of OpenHTS Modules with particular emphasis on High Throughput Screening. Our AssayMaster implementation includes:
Automated plate reader file conversion, plate layout definition tools, automated curve fitting for dose response determinations, a plate calculation engine for running user-configurable calculations on assay plates, kinetic data analysis for kinetic readers such as the Hamamatsu FDSS and the FLPR, plate transfer tracking and plate and compound registration utilities.
Our AssayMaster database includes:
Tables and stored procedures for managing and sharing OpenHTS module configurations, tables and procedures for storing and managing chemical inventory in plates and vials and tables and proceedures for validating, storing and delivering assay results.
Risks Associated with Inadequate IT Support
Failure to support drug discovery efforts with qualified IT support will lead to significant operational risks such as:
Improperly registered chemical libraries
Improperly registered inventory plates
Data file naming errors
Incorrect plate transfer tracking
Failure to recognize software errors
Database integrity problems
No way to perform meaningful data mining
Database implosion due to lack of maintenance
Security and performance degradation due to inadequate upgrade scheduling
Any one of these issues can lead to the catastrophic outcome that large bodies of assay data cannot be correctly assigned to the chemical entity that was actually tested.
Data Management Work Flow
The typical data work flow for a Drug Discovery lab involves many inter-related processes. Chemical structures and related properties are registered either through batch registration of by individual registration in combination with a chemical drawing package. The chemical structures are stored in a database through the use of a chemical cartridge that enables a relational database to provide substructure searching. The chemicals are given an ID that is used to track the chemicals as inventory in the form of plates or vials. This inventory needs to be reconciled with any assay data that is generated by laboratory instrumentation. This is accomplished through the use of an assay protocol that defines the assay format and the type of analysis to perform on the data. The instrumentation generates data but in many different formats so the data needs to be converted by properly defined file converters. Despite the over simplifications described here it quickly becomes evident that a sophisticated understanding of these issues is required to implement a functioning data management system.
CeuticalSoft can deliver turn-key solutions based on the OpenHTS platform and selected third party vendors such as Oracle and Chemaxon. This will leave your laboratory personnel free to focus on the science and avoid the distraction and inefficiencies brought on by do-it-yourself IT management. Even though OpenHTS offers several common configurations of modules, there are still technical challenges to building a comprehensive system that will fit your laboratory processes. Things like database installation and maintenance, module configuration and third party technology integration can be unwieldy for labs that do not have professional IT support. Our expertise with OpenHTS technology means CeuticalSoft can deliver and maintain enterprise solutions in a fraction of the time either in-house IT groups or third party consultants.
