Lab7 Systems Invites Early Access Users

Lab7 Systems, Inc., has announced the first beta release of its next-generation DNA sequencing (NGS) data workflow management software platform. The comprehensive sample-to-answer software environment, which will streamline the process of managing and analyzing NGS data by integrating the current set of disparate tools, will be made available for download from Lab7’s website for early-access users. This initial customer testing is intended to introduce the novel software platform to NGS scientists, bioinformaticians, and core lab personnel, while the company gains useful insight into customer usage and workflows.

“We’re starting to lift the veil on our software by releasing Lab7 Public Beta to our core constituencies in the NGS space,” said Chris Mueller, Ph.D., Lab7 Systems’ President and CTO. “Through this release, we want to get valuable feedback that will help to shape our full-featured software, which is slated to launch in the fourth quarter of 2013. The NGS analysis pipeline engine and reporting tools we’re making available will be the first phase of a comprehensive workflow platform that will significantly change the way NGS data is processed.”

With the huge reduction in cost of DNA sequencing, researchers are flocking to the technology, creating a massive big data problem. Simply managing sequencing data has cost the industry over $400 million in 2012 alone. Lab7 Systems anticipates that it will reduce the burdened cost of DNA data handling over 80% by creating a solution that allows the management of data from sample submission all the way through meta-analyses. “In its full version, Lab7 will be a single-interface dashboard that will tie together all of the various tools we’ve been using in NGS,” continued Dr. Mueller, who previously led a bioinformatics group at Life Technologies. “With all of the manual data shuffling and loose data provenance everyone is struggling though today, there are some very highly-skilled professionals who are spending inordinate amounts of time, and therefore their employers’ money, on tasks that can be automated. An integrated platform will allow users to get back to their primary goal – the advancement of science.”

The free release of the Lab7 pipeline management system will be made available at 12:00pm CDT on Lab7 Systems’ website (www.lab7.io) on June 20, 2013, for academic and non-clinical use. Users of this version who wish to take advantage of the software’s support for compute clusters, parallel execution, access control lists and multiple users, may contact Lab7 to receive early access to the full version of the software. Regular updates can be expected every four to six weeks.

“We founded Lab7 with the goal of becoming very involved with our users, and that’s why we’re so excited to get our software into users’ hands,” concluded Dr. Mueller. “With our strong focus on user experience, we firmly believe that we will deliver an easy-to-operate solution for our customer base, and we’re extremely anxious to start getting some great feedback from our early adopters.”