icon cell tracker

Cell Culture Tracker

Culture Tracker is a LabCollector add-on that turns strain records into a complete cell-culture workflow from first flask to final harvest with passage history, interactive lineage, banking, labels, reports, and API automation, all built on your existing LabCollector data.

cell tracker

What it is?

Culture Tracker is an overlay for cell-culture and biobank labs using LabCollector’s Strains (ST) module. It does not replace LabCollector storage, strain records, or custom modules. Instead, it adds a purpose-built culture layer on top:

  • Working vessels flasks and plates in incubation (not in storage)
  • Banked samples real tubes in LabCollector boxes with grid positions
  • Culture events passage records in your chosen custom module
  • Lineage a visual, traceable history from reference strain to harvest or trash

Everything stays in LabCollector Culture Tracker adds workflow, visibility, and control.

Why labs choose it

Pain Culture Tracker answer
Passage history scattered across spreadsheets and notes One linear passage spine per strain (P0 → P1 → P2 …) with clear status
Hard to see what’s live vs finished Ongoing / Continued / Harvested / Trashed states everywhere
Aliquots and flasks mixed up in storage Origin model: Reference · Child · Working
No visual genealogy Interactive lineage tree with zoom and expand/collapse
Slow, error prone passage logging Next passage forms pre-filled from previous event
Banking is ad hoc Templates, box picker, grid position picker
Labels and barcodes disconnected Native label printing + barcode scan navigation
Management wants numbers Reports, CSV exports, alerts, AI assistant
LIMS integration needed REST API + Swagger aligned with UI rules

Feature highlights

End-to-end culture workflow

  • Start a culture create working vessels and log the first passage in one step
  • Next passage continue the lineage with pre-filled culture fields
  • Bank samples store aliquots on the reference strain or spawn aderived strain
  • Harvest close the culture successfully and optionally bank final material
  • Trash culture close with a documented reason (contamination, cancellation, etc.); working vessels discarded, banked stock preserved
cell tracker strains
cell culture tracker crop

Visual lineage & traceability

  • Horizontal passage trunk with expandable side branches (vessels, aliquots, derived strains)
  • Color coded nodes: reference, child, working vessel, stored aliquot, derived strain
  • Terminal states visible in the tree: Trashed, Harvested, Continued
  • Cross strain links when banking creates new strain lines
  • Smart back navigation from lineage to wherever you came from (events, strain, etc.)

Strain & event management

  • Strain browser with search, pagination, and tracking toggle
  • Strain KPIs: cultures, banked samples, derived strains
  • Event log grouped by strain with filters (date, owner, operator, origin)
  • Passage records in the add-on with actions, labels, and links
  • Culture Tracker tab embedded in LabCollector strain records
cell tracker event
cell track dashboad

Banking & naming intelligence

  • Reusable aliquot templates (Setup)
  • Configurable ID conventions (e.g.EVOL1846.1, passage+date patterns)
  • Native storage placement real box coordinates, rack grouping, position picker via LC box grid
  • Passage comments written into storage when samples are banked
  • Per strain banking mode: store on reference vs create derived strain

Labels & scanning

  • Print labels for working vessel sand banked samples via LabCollector’s standard printers (DYMO, Zebra, A4, templates)
  • Default label template in Setup for one click printing
  • Barcode scan field in the header scan a vessel, open its passage instantly
cell tracker report

Reports, alerts & AI

  • Home dashboard with KPIs, attention items, and a4-step onboarding wizard for new labs
  • Reports: events by month, vessel/sample mix, events by user, biobank snapshot narrative
  • CSV exports: events, strains, attention, by user
  • AI report assistant(when LC AI is enabled) ask questions grounded in your Culture Tracker data; download HTML reports
  • Dashboard bell alerts for sample validity and passage limit warnings

Permissions & governance

  • Respects LabCollector keeper and group access rules
  • Owner and operator shown with LC avatar son event lists
  • View only mode; write actions to authorized users
  • Linear lineage rules enforced server side no parallel cultures, no actions after harvest/trash

Integration & automation

  • REST API with embedded Swagger (Setup → API)
  • Endpoints for start culture, next passage, bank, harvest, trash
  • Authenticated with LabCollector Web Services ADD-ON tokens
  • Same orchestration as the UI safe for scripts and external systems
cell-tracker-standalone

Setup & flexibility

  • Connect any custom module as the culture-event record type
  • Seed recommended field sin one click (native LC custom fields)
  • Global defaults: passage limit, validity period, alert window, vessel types, derivation rules
  • Per strain overrides: P0, limits, naming, banking mode, culture defaults
  • Standalone view for a full screen workspace embeds cleanly in LabCollector layout
  • Built in usage manual in Setup

Who it’s for

  • Cell culture labs tracking passage number, vessel inventory, and freeze downs
  • Biobanks linking working cultures to stored aliquots and derived lines
  • Core facilities needing visibility and group based access
  • Labs already on LabCollector Strains who want culture workflow without a separate LIMS
  • Teams automating via REST API or reporting to management with exports and AI summaries

Gallery

cell culture tracker crop