Desenvolvimento de um caderno eletrônico para o gerenciamento de experimentos em um laboratório de biociências

Abstract

This paper aims to develop an electronic lab notebook (ELN) at a biology research center, the Brazilian Biosciences National Laboratory (LNBio) which is located at the campus of the Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), in the city of Campinas, state of S˜ao Paulo. To meet the needs of scientists, which involve managing large volumes of heterogeneous data with relationships among themselves, an electronic lab notebook was used to consolidate, validate and relate the various types of data generated in distinct scientific experiments. For this implementation, a free and open source software (eLabFTW) was used with the ability to store and manage raw data from experiments, create models and protocols, facilitate reporting, and manage items and experiments in a collaborative, easy and secure way. A user-testing experiment was conducted on the implementation of data consolidation in the electronic lab notebook by groups of volunteers in the laboratory. The results showed that most users prefer the new solution, replacing the traditional lab notebook with the eletronic tool. The result of this work allows the expansion of the use of this tool, where researchers, technicians and students will be able to share their notes, productions and discoveries in a digital, instantaneous and interactive way, facilitating their production, reducing the time spent on bureaucracy and increasing the time for reasoning and reflection. Moreover, the consolidation of data in a single digital system allows the sharing of data of different types and results that are linked together, for joint analysis by scientists.