computer science

LabLynx

LabLynx is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand LabLynx rather than just read about it. In short: LabLynx, Inc. is a privately held American laboratory informatics company that develops, supports, and markets laboratory information management system (LIMS) solutions. Its primary offerings over the years have included webLIMS and ELab.

Key takeaways

LabLynx belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect LabLynx to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of LabLynx from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

LabLynx, Inc. is a privately held American laboratory informatics company that develops, supports, and markets laboratory information management system (LIMS) solutions. Its primary offerings over the years have included webLIMS and ELab. The company’s primary clients include laboratories in the agriculture, clinical, environmental, forensics, health care, and manufacturing industries, including government agencies. The company is known for introducing one of the first browser-based LIMS products in 1997 and being in the laboratory informatics industry for decades.

History Before LabLynx was a company, it was a LIMS product offered by Atlanta Systems Consultants, Inc. (ASC). Formed in 1992, ASC’s LabLynx division later began work on a laboratory information management system designed specifically for a web browser. ASC demonstrated its new Internet Explorer-based LabLynx LIMS at Pittcon in 1997, among the first browser-based LIMS to appear at the time. The company again showcased LabLynx at Pittcon in 1998 and soon after picked up a major LIMS-based contract with the U.S. Customs Service.

By July 2000, the LabLynx division of ASC separated to become its own incorporated entity. And while ASC eventually ceased to exist in 2005, LabLynx, Inc. went on to diversify its offerings. The LabLynx’s browser-based LIMS previously demonstrated at Pittcon in 1997 expanded to become ELab, which in 2001 took on an application service provider (ASP) model of distribution. In 2004 LabLynx released a browser-based tool called openLIMS, which gave consultants and end-users the ability "to build custom LIMS solutions that are geared to the exact operational needs of many different laboratories." On June 19, 2006, LabLynx established the Laboratory Informatics Institute, an open membership group with the purpose of advancing the field of laboratory informatics and shaping the standards associated with it. In 2011, LabLynx was involved in an initiative to standardize and structure the transmission of laboratory data that first originates in a LIMS or LIS and then moves to a person's or population of people's electronic health records. This laboratory results interface (LRI) pilot began in August 2011 and included collaborations with the supported open source project mdDigest and the U.S. Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). In February 2015, LabLynx released HealthCloudPOL, a cloud-based laboratory information system (LIS) for the physician office laboratory (POL). In July 2019, LabLynx released its CannaQA LIMS software for the cannabis testing industry. The solution's name changed to "ELab LIMS for Cannabis Testing" by 2022. In April 2020, LabLynx announced it had modified its existing ELab LIMS platform to effectively manage COVID-19 workflows.

Community history Since transitioning from Atlanta Systems Consultants, Inc. to LabLynx, Inc. in 2000, LabLynx has become increasingly active in the laboratory informatics community. Projects that LabLynx has started or been involved in within the community (past and present) include:

the Laboratory Informatics Institute, an open trade association with the mission of educating, standardizing, and promoting the laboratory informatics industry LIMSfinder, an online interactive magazine released by the Laboratory Informatics Institute LIMSbook, a LIMS buyer’s guide released by the Laboratory Informatics Institute LIMSforum, a community-driven discussion group created to facilitate the exchange of ideas and technical information across the fields of laboratory, science, and health informatics LIMSwiki, a Creative Commons-licensed wiki with the goal of bringing related informatics communities together to maintain a repository of information about the industry

Products LabLynx products include:

ELab LIMS, a configurable cloud-based LIMS serving multiple industries Prior products include:

webLIMS, a hosted LIMS software package based on the "software as a service" (SaaS) model of distribution HealthCloudPOL, a cloud-based laboratory information system (LIS) for the physician office laboratory (POL), introduced by the company in early 2015 CannaQA LIMS, a LIMS for the analytical testing of cannabis (now part of ELab) CovidLIMS, a platform-based LIMS/LIS for COVID-19 diagnostic testing

References

External links Official website

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with LabLynx

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what LabLynx claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to LabLynx before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about LabLynx ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of LabLynx

In research: LabLynx appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses LabLynx in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: LabLynx is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics American companies established in 2000, Companies based in Atlanta, Health care software companies, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for LabLynx outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study LabLynx in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what LabLynx means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain LabLynx out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is LabLynx in simple terms?

Why does LabLynx matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study LabLynx?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on LabLynx.