Lab7 Systems Launches the Enterprise Sequencing Platform™ (ESP) for Comprehensive Sample-to-Answer Management of Genome Sequencing Data

AUSTIN, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Lab7 Systems, Inc., today introduced the Lab7 Enterprise Sequencing Platform (ESP), the industry’s only comprehensive sample-to-answer data management software for next-generation genomic sequencing (NGS) laboratories. Targeting all of the major stakeholders in the genomic data management and analysis process, the Lab7 ESP approaches the sequencing lab from an enterprise software perspective combining all the functional elements of data workflow with a proprietary data resource manager. Using this underlying architecture, Lab7 ESP is the industry’s first integrated LIMS (laboratory information management system), analysis, and reporting platform, a combination that reduces the lab’s staffing burden and enables complete data provenance with full auditing capabilities required for clinical use, while easing the burden on bioinformaticians and IT to streamline and accelerate actionable results.

“This first full production release of the Lab7 ESP culminates our vision of integrated management, analysis, and reporting of genomic data,” said Chris Mueller, Ph.D., Lab7 Systems’ President and CTO. “A fully-integrated platform with a strong data management architecture is what the industry needs to lower the barriers to entry and to make the processing of genomic data more efficient. Our ultimate goal with the Lab7 ESP has always been to break down the traditional barriers between scientists, lab personnel, bioinformaticians, and IT, and allow them to refocus their efforts back onto their primary goal – the advancement of science.”

With increasing adoption that has resulted from a decrease in costs associated with genomic sequencing, the flood of genomic data has been well-documented, and is understood in the industry to be a major rate-limiting step to the wider adoption of the technology, as well as to rapid scientific discovery. Furthermore, the technology to produce genomic sequence data has democratized to the point of making it attractive to clinical operations that require extensive data provenance to meet regulatory standards for diagnostic purposes. In this environment of big data that requires auditable tracking, there is no other complete software solution that is capable of integrating all the pieces required to make the management of genomic data accessible to a broader scientific and clinical community.

By using a common architecture to combine LIMS and informatics features, such as an advanced analysis pipeline manager and reporting framework, the Lab7 ESP makes it easy for NGS researchers to create and manage entire sequencing workflows. The key features include:

  • LIMS Lite: A tool for transparent, streamlined sample tracking and communication between lab technicians, managers, and scientists.
  • Analysis Pipeline Manager: Pipeline creation and management tools to seamlessly integrate with the user’s existing bioinformatics environment.
  • Reports and Visualizations: Using any data generated in the system or external data sources, tools to create custom reports to aid interpretation of results and to visualize results in genomic context.
  • Lab7 Resource Manager: Designed to run in research, production, and regulated environments, the heart of the ESP tracks the full provenance of sequencing data from sample submission to the instrument to quality control and analytical results.
  • Platform Agnosticism: The ESP manages and analyzes data generated on any sequencing platform and deploys onto any compute infrastructure.

The Lab7 ESP has been in early-access use in clinical, large academic, and large agribio environments. Interactions with these early advocates have helped to shape the Lab7 ESP into the version Lab7 Systems released today. “The Lab7 team and our software platform have been a great resource for our users who have recently transitioned into NGS, as well as our experienced users who have been struggling with a disjointed set of informatics tools,” concluded Dr. Mueller. “By streamlining the process, we have managed an acceleration of discovery and an overall resource savings of over 70%. The truly novel component of our platform is the Lab7 Resource Manager, our data resource engine that underpins the system, which gives us the ability to track and manage all of the data associated with a genomic sequencing laboratory. The deep data provenance maintained by the system makes our solution ideal for regulated environments, and enables 21 CFR Part 11 compliance for our users.”

Version 1.0 of the Lab7 ESP is now commercially available for deployment onto any compute infrastructure from workstations to clusters to the cloud. The company is also making a demonstration version available for trial to qualified interested parties. Inquiries for more information are invited via the company’s website at www.lab7.io, or through email at info@lab7.io.

About Lab7 Systems, Inc.:

Lab7 Systems is a software developer that has a vision to reduce the level of hands-on data management by bioinformaticians, scientists, and IT teams who are struggling with the massive amounts of next generation sequencing data that are being generated. Lab7 understands there is a critical need to develop a tool that will integrate the disparate and often disjointed scientific software toolkit that is being used, and thereby free up the valuable human resources who are currently tasked with doing this. For more information, visit www.lab7.io.